February 23 was supposed to be the starting day of Haiti’s Carnival Celebration. The government had spoken that Carnival wasn’t to take place in the capitol, in order to avoid a bloodbath.

According to the Associated Press, several people who claimed to be off-duty police officers had joined the march of hundreds of supporters towards the palace as a method to demand for better pay for Haitian law enforcement officers. The recently formed army was re-established by President Jovenel Moïse on November 17, 2017. Haiti had disbanded its military in 1995.

Within the headquarters, AP journalists reported soldiers had started shooting into the air. And sooner or later the police and the soldiers began exchanging shots with semi-automatic pistols, and rifles. No one knows who fired the first shot at either group. After it had started, masked uniformed officers had ran to support their colleagues.

This lasted for several hours, with at least three officers wounded, according to fellow officers. A single soldier was also wounded, as their high command  released in an online statement. An abnormal thing to see was apparently a drone that was taking pictures. It was controlled by Radio Caraibes, a popular radio station, being chased by other masked men. They had followed it to the Broadcasting Station, and proceeded to open fire upon the building.