dominican republic

From the Guardian:

The apparent lynching of a young man in the Dominican city of Santiago has reignited fears of a looming humanitarian crisis.

The body of a man, apparently of Haitian descent, was found hanged from a tree in a city park, his body beaten and his hands and feet bound by rope. 

Police were quick to say his death was related to a theft, with preliminary investigations leading policy to identify two suspects. While authorities discarded racism or xenophobia as motives, the incident heightened tensions over people of Haitian origin in the Dominican Republic.

“Nobody knows yet the reason behind the lynching, but it comes in the context of constant discrimination and violence against Haitians,” says Santiago Canton, of Robert F Kennedy Human Rights.

The death of the man came just hours after a group of Dominicans in Santiago, the country’s second-largest city, publicly burned the Haitian flag. Elsewhere, human rights groups have reported that a man was recently denied access to a public bus because he “looked Haitian”.

Read more at the Guardian