8th August, 2023
Haitian police on Monday used tear gas to disperse hundreds of people protesting gang violence that has made the country ungovernable.
Tensions escalated in the capital of Port-au-Prince as the protesters, many masked, took to the streets.
Government vehicles were set on fire, as they squared off against police, demanding protection and aid. Police later used tear gas to disperse them, eyewitnesses said.
One young protestor, James, said he was marching against the rise of gangs, which has devastated health care and security, with growing numbers of kidnappings and homicides.
“We can’t live like this anymore. The other neighbourhoods are ‘gangsterized’,” he said. “People are abandoning their homes.”
One police officer was killed in the devastating gang violence last week.
The United Nations refugee agency says some 73,500 people fled Haiti last year in light of growing gang violence and poverty.
The UN also says 5.2 million – nearly half Haiti’s population – need humanitarian assistance, and has urged the need for international assistance in Haiti to restore stability.
“There are thieves. We can’t sleep. We can’t eat. We can’t even live. We didn’t create the gangs,” one person at the march said.
Protesters told Reuters they wanted an “intervention” in the Port-au-Prince area of Carrefour-Feuilles, decrying the lack of health services and deaths at the hands of gangs.
“We are asking for tanks,” said one person.