At nationalist stronghold Dominicans protest foreigners’ ‘meddling’

Santiago.- Dozens of people gathered Sunday in front of Santiago’s El Monumento to rebuke what they consider meddling in the country’s internal affairs by the Inter-American Human Rights Commission and other international organizations.

The demonstration was also to support the Constitutional Court ruling on Dominican citizenship and against some parts of the Government’s Plan to Regulate Undocumented Immigrants.

The protesters say the 18-month ban on repatriating undocumented aliens violates the Constitution, and vowed to file a challenge to that provision in the next few days.

The grassroots National Sovereignty Defense Network organized the activity that began 11am at the corner of El Sol Street and Francia Av., where the demonstrators and security arrested at least four Haitians and a Frenchman who infiltrated the event waving their country’s flag.

"Four Haitians came to this activity waving the Haitian flag to provoke the Dominicans, security took them without abusing them, but we’re going to show the invaders that this is our country and we are ready to defend it," the journalist and Network member María Elena Rodríguez told the crowd.

The OAS

Some of the protesters sang the song by the Cuban Carlos Puebla, called, "The OAS is a thing of laughter" in front of El Monumento, the country’s biggest nationalistic structure.