Haiti protest derides Dominican court ruling

Headline Legal News

Hundreds of protesters gathered Friday to criticize a recent court decision in the Dominican Republic that could strip the citizenship of generations of people of Haitian descent living in the neighboring country.

The crowd peaked at about 2,000 people but thinned out during the march uphill to the Dominican Embassy to protest the decision passed two months ago by that country's court. The demonstrators urged people to boycott travel to the Dominican Republic.

Riot police set up metal barricades on a major thoroughfare that block protesters from reaching the district where the diplomatic mission is located.

The ruling has been met with sharp objection, from Caribbean leaders to the United Nations. On Friday, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights became the latest international entity to oppose the court decision, calling on the Dominican government to take urgent measures to guarantee the rights of those people affected.

Advocacy groups estimate 200,000 people, many of them of Haitian descent, could lose their Dominican citizenship because of the court ruling. Dominican officials say only about 24,000 would be affected.

Related listings

  • Supreme Court won't stop NY's Internet taxation

    Supreme Court won't stop NY's Internet taxation

    Headline Legal News 12/05/2013

    On perhaps the busiest online shopping day of the year, the Supreme Court refused to wade into a dispute over state sales taxes for purchases on websites like Amazon.com, an outcome likely to prompt more states to attempt to collect taxes on Internet...

  • Nevada Supreme Court upholds ethics laws

    Nevada Supreme Court upholds ethics laws

    Headline Legal News 12/02/2013

    The Nevada Supreme Court upheld the state's ethics laws on Wednesday while backing the censure of a Sparks councilman for his 2005 vote on a casino project involving his former campaign manager. In a 5-2 opinion, justices rejected arguments from Spar...

  • Amanda Knox appeals slander case to European court

    Amanda Knox appeals slander case to European court

    Headline Legal News 11/29/2013

    Lawyers for Amanda Knox filed an appeal of her slander conviction in Italy with the European Court of Human Rights, as her third murder trial was underway in Florence. The slander conviction was based on statements Knox made to police in November 200...

Business News