Haiti: Opposition senators trash Parliament office

A group of opposition senators have ransacked their meeting room in Parliament and dragged out broken furniture and computers to block the ratification of interim Prime Minister Jean-Michel Lapin.

Dozens of protesters gathered outside Parliament on Thursday to support the senators as they burned tires in the street, set a truck on fire and clashed with police that fired tear gas.

Tear gas overwhelmed both police and residents of downtown Port-au-Prince as parents with young school children tried to escape the violence.

Legislators were supposed to meet today to debate for the third time whether to designate Lapin as prime minister. It is unclear when they would meet again.

"What we did was a [deliberate] strategy," Sen. Antonio Cheramy, one of the opposition leaders who masterminded the furniture protest, said.

He alleged that Cantave "violated various parliament regulations" during the process, which led to more drastic measures on their part.

The United Nations' Core Group issued a statement condemning the violence.

“These deplorable events go against democratic principles,” Canada’s ambassador in Haiti Andre Frenette tweeted.