*This post was updated to include information from CPJ.
A Haitian journalist was hit by a gunshot as police fired live ammunition during a protest in Port-au-Prince on Sept. 30, according to the radio station where he works, Radio Sans Fin, as reported by Reuters.
Edmond Joseph Agénor, a cameraman for Radio Sans Fin, was covering a protest outside the Haitian capital's airport, which was the scene of clashes between protesters and police, according to the website Rezo Nòdwès. Police used live ammunition at the protest, according to what the director of the radio told the site. One shot hit Agénor's wrist, the site reported.
He was taken to a hospital for treatment shortly afterwards and was undergoing surgery, but is out of danger, according to what Yvenert Fosheter Joseph, general director of Radio Sans Fin, told Rezo Nòdwès.
Joseph said he will go to court against the violation of Agenor's rights and that, before that, he will file a formal complaint with the General Inspectorate of the National Police of Haiti (IGPNH, for its initials in French). He told the site that the idea is "to punish the irresponsibility of law enforcement officers in the management of crowds."
"The police used live ammunition and Edmond Joseph Agénor was hit in the right arm. It is illegal and unconventional to use these types of interventions. We plan first to file a sanction request with the IGPNH against the offending policeman. We will also present a complaint before the courts for violation of the right of the person.”
In an interview with the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Joseph said Agénor was using a when he was shot.
Agénor is the second journalist hit by a shot fired by Haitian authorities in a week. On Sept. 23, Associated Press photojournalist Dieu Nalio Chery was grazed by a bullet in the face when a senator fired his gun outside the legislature.
Another journalist for Radio Sans Fin, Pétion Rospide, was shot and killed while driving home from work on June 10 also in Port-au-Prince.
According to Reuters, sectors of the Haitian population have been protesting food and fuel shortages, double-digit inflation and accusations of corruption against government politicians, and many have called for the resignation of current President Jovenel Moise.
