At about nine in the morning on Sunday 27 January, the first chairs started flying in the national PRD headquarters in Santo Domingo. “Order, Comrades, order!” shouted the helpless master of ceremonies at the meeting of the National Executive Committee (CEN).
The news that PRD president Miguel Vargas Maldonado was arriving traveled fast beyond the doors of party headquarters, reaching the people outside, and the crowd control fencing outside the building on Jimenez Moya Street (south of Winston Churchill Ave.) went flying like dominoes. The doubts caused some of the rank and file, and the police agents posted nearby – who had been there for nearly an hour – to run to their defense.
The rest, a very determined group, made the first attempt to invade the premises, but first they broke chairs, the metal detector and the tents that had been set up outside. Minutes later the first shots were heard and the ensuing shooting spree went on for at least an hour. There were only a few lulls, when the militants withdrew from gunshots or tear gas canisters. City councilman Roberto Arias was the first of the PRD members to leave with head injuries caused by a flying chair. Jeyson Eduardo Leyba Batista left with a bullet wound in a leg and was taken to a private clinic. By the end of the day eight people had been injured.