Funeral for slain Haitian president takes place amid protests, violence in the country

Haiti is holding a funeral for its late President Jovenel Moise Friday, following days of protests and violence from angry supporters of the slain leader. The video above shows part of the funeral.

Overnight Thursday, workers set up stages, lights and paved a brick road to Moise’s mausoleum on a dusty plot of several acres. The area in the northern City of Cap-Haitien is enclosed by high walls.

As preparations were underway, protesters took to the streets in the city for a second straight day. Thursday’s demonstrations saw protesters set tires on fire to block roads. And on Wednesday, hundreds of workers fled businesses in Cap-Haitian after demonstrations grew violent.

These were the first violent demonstrations since Moïse was shot to death at his home earlier this month. They came a day after Ariel Henry was sworn in as the country’s new prime minister, pledging to form a provisional consensus government, and restore order and security. “The task that awaits us is complex, extreme and difficult,” Prime Minister Henry said Tuesday. “The different sectors of Haitian society should talk to each other to find and implement lasting solutions to the problems which we are facing.”

In the capital of Port-au-Prince, Martine Moïse, widow of the slain president, made her first public appearance since her surprise return to Haiti on Saturday. She had been recuperating at a hospital in Miami after she was wounded in the attack.

Authorities have said at least 26 suspects have been arrested as part of the investigation into the assassination. This includes 18 former Colombian soldiers and three Haitian police officers. At least seven high-ranking police officers have been placed in isolation, but not formally arrested, according to Haiti’s National Police Chief Léon Charles.

Colombia’s government said Wednesday it would have a consular mission in Haiti July 25-27 to help the detained ex-soldiers, as well as, repatriate the bodies of the three others killed by Haitian authorities in the aftermath of the assassination.