Haitian senator draws gun on protesters

A harrowing situation near the Haitian parliament building in the nation's capital of Port-au-Prince.

Senator Jean Marie Ralph Fethiere pulled out a gun and started shooting up in the air Monday as protesters surrounded his pick-up truck.

A journalist for the Associated Press and a security guard were reportedly hit by the gunfire.

Fethiere defended his actions as self defense, the local media reported.

Haitians have been pouring into the streets in anger over fuel and food shortages, calling on the nation's president to resign.

Mesmin Louigene is one of the protesters.

SOUNDBITE (CREOLE WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATION) MESMIN LOUIGENE, PROTESTER, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI, SAYING:

"We are enduring a situation that is unbearable and horrible. We are here to finish it off. The situation in Haiti is not easy. Companies have closed, schools are not operating. Children are at home. It's a horrible situation."

Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, used to get oil from Venezuela but shipments have dried up due to economic turmoil in that country.

So far the protests have reportedly led to at least one death.