One dead as police clash with protesters in Haiti

At least one protester has been killed as demonstrations against President Jovenel Moïse in Port-au-Prince on Sunday turned violent.

Thousands took to the street in Haiti's capital to demand Moïse resign from office.

Demonstrators threw rocks at police who in turn fired teargas and rubber bullets into the crowd at different points throughout the city.

The protester who was killed, died when he was set on fire by what some witnesses claim were government supporters.

A journalist was hit by a rubber bullet in the back.

Protesters burned piles of tyres, blocking major thoroughfares in the Haitian capital as they tried to reach the offices of the Organization of American States to deliver a message.

Security forces held the crowd back and did not allow them to reach their intended destination.

Public protests have increased over the past several weeks as opposition leaders stepped up their demands that President Jovenel Moïse resign.

The opposition claims that Moïse's five-year term ended on February 7, but Moïse has reiterated that it ends in February 2022 since he wasn't sworn in until 2017.

Prior to that, a provisional president ruled Haiti for one year following chaotic elections marred by allegations of fraud.

One week ago, on the date the opposition recognizes as the end of his presidential term, Moïse announced that police had arrested nearly two dozen people accused of an alleged coup conspiracy, including a Supreme Court judge who has since been released from jail while others remain in custody.

Opposition leaders labeled the arrests as political repression as critics accuse Moïse of trying to become more powerful.

Moïse has been ruling by presidential decree for more than a year after dissolving a majority of Parliament in January 2020, amid a delay in legislative elections given political gridlock and protests that paralyzed the country in 2019.

His administration is also facing an increase in violence, kidnappings and escalating poverty.