Haiti Protest Turns Violent, Plane Torched
HAITI (CBS) - Haitian demonstrators protesting against crime in the city of Les Cayes burned a plane belonging to U.S. missionary group Agape Flights on Tuesday, according to local media reports.
On videos posted on social media, demonstrators can be seen climbing atop the aircraft and later pushing it throughout the airport runway.
The protesters entered the local airport in Les Cayes in Haiti's southern peninsula even though police fired tear gas to keep them out, Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste reported on its website.
A spokeswoman for Agape Flights, a Venice, Florida based missionary group that flies mail and humanitarian supplies to Caribbean countries, said the ground team was safe and that preparations were being made to fly them back to the United States safely.
It was not immediately clear why the protesters had targeted the plane.
The incident followed peaceful protests in other parts of the country in which activists demanded the government of Prime Minister Ariel Henry do more to address gang violence including constant kidnappings.