Interview: André Michel on His Arrest and Release After Mass Protest on Kiskeya

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Release of lawyer and political activist Andre Michel after a night and a day of protest against the Chief Prosecutor, the President Martelly and Lamothe government.

Violence and anti-government protests were reported Wednesday morning in various parts of the capital and seat of the prosecution of the Civil Court of Port-au-Prince at the Cité de l'Exposition, following the controversial arrest of lawyer and political activist Michel André on Tuesday night in Martissant (southern suburbs of the capital), after his vehicle was searched by the police in the presence of a magistrate. Previously, the lawyer had received strong pressure from the Government Commissioner, Mr. René Francisco, to accept the search in the absence of a justice. There he was resolutely opposed, expressing the fear that incriminating objects are introduced into the vehicle by police he said to be the balance of political power he fought fiercely. Driven Wednesday morning Parquet where thousands of citizens came to support him, the lawyer was heard by a deputy commissioner of the government acknowledged that there was no charge against him. Many lawyers who had come to support however reacted strongly when the Chief Commissioner Rene Francisco, wanted still to arrest the lawyer citing an arrest warrant issued against him had the judge Lamarre of instruction Belizaire.

With the support of a number of protesters who have invested the enclosure of the prosecution lawyers are then left with their colleague in the direction of the office of President of the Order of the lawyers in the same building. Arrived later on the scene, members of parliament, including the president of the lower house, also a lawyer, Michel took the Legislative Palace, where he found refuge for a few hours before leaving for an unknown destination. After a closed-door between parliamentarians and the barrister Carlos Hercules, the latter informed the press that Mr. Michel was released and lawyers cease to plead in court as the government commissioner will René Francisco at his post. the edge and Inside the Procuratorate, the protesters chanted slogans against the head of state and government, calling for the resignation. They denounced "their involvement in drugs and all kinds of shady business" and "their project to delight Haitian major democratic gains"-won. Students from the State University, including the Faculties Ethnology, Humanities and INAGHEI, mingled in the game. Near the Faculty of Ethnology of stones were thrown, the burning barricades, stones and all kinds of objects scattered on the floor to prevent traffic. The police responded by throwing tear gas seriously affected students and journalists, as well as patients, both adults and infants, of the Hospital of the State University of Haiti close.

Anti-government demonstrations have been also recorded in the province, including Cap-Haitien and Les Cayes. 's arrest André Michel, deemed illegal because of the time (unconstitutional) to which it was made ​​and its underlying political, caused disapproval of a very large scale in civil society and the political class at a time when, already, in these environments, it is suspected the head of state of not wanting to hold democratic elections, want to dissolve parliament and restore dictatorship by leading by decree. Therefore, political leaders and activists from different backgrounds, professionals from various sectors flocked to the prosecution to prevent this wednesday André Michel is unjustly imprisoned. Officer political organization "Gwoup 77" André and Michel his colleague Louis Newton St-Juste, are behind the lawsuit to "corruption" against the wife and son of the Head of State, and Olivier Sophia Martelly. Judge Jean Serge Joseph, who was in charge of this case, died in circumstances far unsolved.