19th November, 2010
Several hundred protesters stoned a UN patrol and yelled anti-UN slogans in Haitiâ€
Reports say the protest is the continuing spread of anger over cholera epidemic that is killing dozens of people everyday.
Police fired teargas to disperse the demonstrators who blame UN peacekeepers for bringing the disease to Haiti, where national elections are to be held on Nov. 28, more than 10 months after a devastating earthquake.
Reports which said that Nepalese UN troops were the source of the raging cholera outbreak have angered many in the Western Hemisphereâ€
A patrol of UN blue helmets withdrew hastily after they were pelted with stones by the demonstrators, who also tried to block streets with rocks and debris.
The protesters shouted “MINUSTAH must go†and “MINUSTAH brought cholera to Haiti,â€Â referring to the acronym of the UN mission in the Caribbean country.
The protest in the heart of the capital followed several days of anti-UN riots in the northern city of Cap-Haitien, where at least two people were killed and several dozen injured in clashes between rioters and UN troops.
In the north of the country, the violence has badly disrupted UN-led international efforts to stem the spread of the cholera epidemic that has killed more than 1,110 people with well over 18,000 having caught the water-borne disease.
It has also raised serious security questions ahead of this monthâ€
Cap-Haitienâ€
Roads there have been blocked by stone-throwing protesters and burning barricades, stopping cholera patients from reaching hospital, and a CNN correspondent in Cap-Haitien said one hospital had reported 35 patients with gunshot wounds since Monday.
“How the hell are we going to run a cholera response in the middle of this? You canâ€
Haitiâ€
Experts say tens of thousands of Haitians are at risk of infection and death unless they can be treated quickly.
Haitiâ€
In New York on Thursday, UN spokesman, Farhan Haq, was asked about a Swedish media report, citing Swedenâ€
Haq told reporters the UN had no conclusive evidence of a link between UN peacekeepers in Haiti and the epidemic. The South Asian strain of cholera in Haiti had been found in many regions outside Asia, he said, and did not necessarily come from the Nepalese peacekeepers.
The U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the Pan American Health Organisation said the epidemic could worsen in spite of efforts to control it.