Headline: Haiti places national police on high alert

A Haitian policeman stands guard outside the presidential residence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise on July 7, 2021. (Illustrative image) VALERIE BAERISWYL AFP/File

Text by: Stefanie Schüler Follow

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The national police have been placed on high alert throughout Haiti from tomorrow until February 10 inclusive.

The announcement was made yesterday by the new director of the national police, Frantz Elbé.

This provision is made as February 7 approaches, the date on which the mandate of the late President Jovenel Moïse should have ended, recalls

Le National

.

And it is therefore on this date that the mandate of the current interim Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, should also end, believe part of public opinion and a fringe of the Haitian political opposition gathered behind various agreements of out of crisis.

But the current head of government does not hear it that way.

What will happen on February 7?

In the columns of the

National

, the citizens questioned fear scenes of violence.

The Catholic Church, for its part, calls on all political actors to “ 

a broad consensus to get the country out of the crisis

 ”.

“ 

It is about our survival as a people

 ,” warns the Haitian Episcopal Conference in the newspaper

Le Nouvelliste

Another black man killed by Minneapolis police

Minneapolis police conducted an operation in which a young black man was killed.

The video, captured by a police officer's body camera, was released last night by city authorities.

This case revives the debate around search warrants called “no-knock” – in French “without knocking”.

They allow law enforcement to enter private property unannounced.

That's what happened Wednesday morning in downtown Minneapolis.

The local newspaper

Star Tribune

reports: the police enter an apartment with a key, announce their presence, move towards the living room where a man is lying on a sofa.

The individual straightens up slightly, a weapon in his hand and a policeman opens fire.

The young man hit by three bullets is 22-year-old African-American Amir Locke.

Minneapolis authorities said the call was requested by police in nearby Saint Paul as part of a homicide investigation.

But “ 

the name of Amir Locke did not appear on the search warrant.

And the apartment in which he was killed was not his

 .

Also according to the

Star Tribune,

Amir Locke “ 

had no criminal history.

He was in legal possession of a firearm at the time of his

 death

.

Several members of the young man's family are also part of the city's police department

 .

This case therefore revives the debate on the use of so-called “no-knock” search warrants.

This practice has been banned in several American cities because " 

these police operations have resulted in the death of innocent civilians

 ", writes the

Star Tribune

which recalls that " 

Minneapolis restricted this practice in 2020, and only uses it occasionally

 " .

The famous lawyer Benjamin Crump, who has already pleaded the cause of the George Floyd family, also killed in Minneapolis in 2020, demanded yesterday, for the umpteenth time, " 

the end of this type of search warrant so that one day

the black Americans can sleep safely in their beds at night

 ”.

New in the case of the mysterious " 

Havana syndrome

 " which has struck diplomats and American soldiers around the world

As a reminder: the victims suffer from headaches, nausea, dizziness, and even neurological damage.

These “ 

abnormal health incidents

 ” – or HAIs as experts call them, were first reported in 2016 among American and Canadian diplomats stationed in Cuba, hence the name “ 

Havana syndrome

 ”, before to be reported elsewhere in the world, such as in China, Germany, Russia and Austria.

A group of American experts, mandated by American intelligence, published a report.

And his conclusions are staggering: “ 

Specialists have looked into all the cases listed.

In two dozen victims, the symptoms observed cannot be explained by medical or environmental causes,

 ” reports the

Miami Herald. 

“ 

The experts have concluded that it is electromagnetic waves, emitted at a short distance, which could be the cause of the symptoms observed.

These devices already exist and are easily concealable, further underlines experts

 .

The Florida newspaper concludes: “ 

The thesis of deliberate attacks against American personnel abroad is therefore revived

 ”.

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