PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti (CMC) — More than 200 people staged a protest outside the  United States Embassy demanding the release of Guy Philippe, the former rebel turned politician who appeared in a United States Federal Court on drug-related charges on Friday.

Philippe, 48, was arrested last week Thursday as he emerged from a radio station here and extradited to the United States.

Philippe, who was elected as a senator in the November 20 legislative elections last year, has pleaded not guilty to charges of drug smuggling and money laundering. The charges carry a maximum life prison sentence.

The protestors, brandishing Philippe’s photo, Haitian flags and shouting slogans hostile to the Americans, demonstrated in front of the US Embassy, where a contingent of the National Police of Haiti (PNH) and the UN peacekeepers of Minustah, had been deployed.

“We want to tell the Americans to bring Guy Philippe back to the airport, where they kidnapped him. It is not because we do not have an army, because we are a small country, that Americans may think they are allowed to enter here and arrest an elected senator,” said one of the demonstrators.

Meanwhile, Senator Youri Latortue, a close friend of President-elect Jovenel Moïse, was elected president of the Senate and of the National Assembly.

He defeated President Ronald Larches by an 11-9 margin.

“I congratulate the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies on the election of their respective bureau and wish them success in their task,” Moïse said.

Moise will be sworn in as the new Haitian president on February 7.