AP photographer wounded as senator fires gun during protest

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti  – An Associated Press photographer was wounded Monday in a shooting that erupted outside Haiti’s Senate when a senator from the governing party fired a pistol during a confrontation with opposition protesters.

Ruling party Senator Ralph Fethiere fires his gun outside Parliament as he arrives for a vote on the ratification of Fritz William Michel’s nomination as prime minister in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Sept. 23, 2019. Opposition members confronted ruling-party senators, and Fethiere pulled a pistol when protesters rushed at him and members of his entourage. The vote was cancelled. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

Dieu-Nalio Chery was hit in the jaw by what appeared to be a fragment of one of the bullets fired by Sen. Ralph Fethiere. Chery was treated and released from a Port-au-Prince hospital and was expected to undergo further treatment this week to remove the object from his jaw.

“Thankfully, he is expected to be OK. While it does not appear he was targeted, this is a reminder of the danger journalists around the world face every day while doing their jobs, even on a routine assignment,” said Lauren Easton, AP’s global director of media relations and corporate communications.

A Senate security guard also suffered what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the stomach.

Senators were convening Monday to approve Fritz William Michel’s nomination as prime minister. Several hundred opposition supporters confronted Fethiere and other senators from the governing party. Fethiere pulled a pistol when protesters rushed at him and members of his entourage.

Moments before the shooting, AP journalists saw supporters of about a half-dozen opposition senators approaching Fethiere, hurling dirt at him and accusing him of selling his vote in favor of Michel.

The opposition is trying to block the formation of a new government as a way of pressuring President Jovenel Moise to leave office. They blame Moise for failure to address pervasive corruption and mismanaging the economy. The country is running low on fuel and inflation is spiraling, leading to widespread public discontent.

Fethiere told Haitian radio station Signal FM that he opened fire because he feared for his life.

“It was just self-defense,” he said. “Armed individuals tried to attack me … They tried to pull me out of my car and I had to defend myself.”

The vote to ratify Michel was canceled, the second failed attempt to approve the president’s nominee after his approval by Haiti’s lower house.

The capital was hit by a series of demonstrations and roadblocks Monday, leading to the latest in a string of near-complete shutdowns of Port-au-Prince that have further damaged the ailing economy. /gsg