Chinese police, U.S. soldiers conduct first joint patrol in Haiti
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Chinese peacekeeping riot police and U.S. troops Thursday carried out their first joint patrol in the quake-battered Haitian capital, as designated by the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).
Hendre Ciprian, a Romanian police officer with MINUSTAH who coordinated the patrol, told Xinhua that the operation, the first one joined by U.S. soldiers at MINUSTAH's invitation, was aimed at assisting Haitian police in keeping social stability and capturing criminal suspects.
A tactics team of 10 Chinese riot police and two squads from the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division conducted the patrol.
The joint forces patrolled some densely populated areas in the city center including the Saint Joseph vegetable market, the Hypolite commercial area, and a neighborhood.
The forces kept guard when the Haitian special police were questioning and searching for suspects. The Haitian special police arrested one criminal suspect and brought the person to a police station for further interrogation.
Ciprian expressed his satisfaction over the one-and-a-half-hour joint patrol, saying MINUSTAH would carry out more similar operations to help restore order in Port-au-Prince.
Currently, nearly 130 Chinese riot police are deployed on a peacekeeping mission in Haiti as part of the 9,000-strong MINUSTAH.
