30 October 2022 | CPJ
Haitian journalist killed during protest
Other non-natural
Haitian journalist Romelson Vilcin was killed after a tear gas canister fired by police struck him on the head on October 30, 2022. Vilcin was among at least a dozen journalists gathered outside the Delmas 33 police substation in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, to call for the release of detained journalist Robest Dimanche.
Members of the Haitian National Police were beating and firing tear gas at the protesters, including Vilcin, as they tried to enter the station, according to news reports and a statement from a local trade group. CPJ was not able to immediately determine whether Vilcin was among other journalists who were documenting the protest or if he was participating in the demonstration.
Another journalist at the protest, Raynald Petit-Frère, the president of the Haitian Collective of Online Media, a local journalists’ guild, told local news outlets that he heard the projectile hit Vilcin and saw the journalist fall to the ground. Vilcin remained there for over two hours before police took him to the Bernard Mevs hospital, where he died shortly after, according to those reports.
Vilcin was a correspondent for Génération 80, a radio station based in the northwestern city of Port-de-Paix, and worked with independent online outlets Jim Studio and Zenyez TV, according to the AJH statement.
At least five other journalists were injured during the police response to the protest, and police confiscated equipment from several journalists.
Read the original article here: https://cpj.org/data/people/romelson-vilcin/
