- Haiti's Carnival celebration in the country's capital of Port-au-Prince was disrupted for hours on Sunday as armed and masked, plain-clothed police officers protested their pay and poor working conditions.
- The officers didn't hold up placards with catchy phrases during their demonstration. Instead, they opened fire at the army. Some protesters had semi-automatic weapons, others carried machetes.
- One soldier was killed in the clash and several police officers were injured.
- The deadly protest brought an end to Carnival, the biggest celebration in Haiti.
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A deadly gun battle erupted in Haiti over the weekend during a protest for better pay and working conditions.
Masked plain-clothed police officers took to the streets on the first day of Haiti's carnival celebration in Port-au-Prince, the country's capital, and fired at the army as they tried to stop the armed protesters who timed their demonstration to the beginning of Carnival "to criticize the government's spending priorities."
"No money for police officers but enough money for Carnival," protesters, officers of Haiti's National Police, shouted, The Guardian reported. "It was the final straw."
The gun battle, which started around noon, went on for hours outside of the country's presidential palace, and left one soldier dead as well as at least three police officers wounded, according to the Guardian.
Later that evening, the Haitian government announced Carnival, which gathers thousands of people for the three-day event, was canceled to "avoid a bloodbath," according to a government statement released Sunday. "Terror reigned in certain areas. Streets were obstructed and there was a war-like situation at the Champ de Mars (square), where heavy weapons fire was heard almost all day."
Here's how a day marked for celebration turned violent.