Haitians fed up with gang violence take to the streets

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) — Thousands of people took to the streets of Haiti’s gang-ridden capital Wednesday to denounce rampant crime and danger, as the gangs step up attacks.

Starting early in the morning, Haitians set up barricades, blocking roads, snarling traffic and prompting shops and schools to close as Port-au-Prince was largely paralyzed.

Demonstrators marched on offices of the transitional governing body — Haiti has no elected president or congress — but were dispersed by the police.

The protesters are furious that the so-called Transitional Presidential Council has failed to restore order in the destitute country nearly a year after its creation in a crisis that saw then prime minister Ariel Henry resign under pressure from the well-armed gangs that control most of the city.

Haiti’s gangs routinely attack, kidnap, rob and rape people, despite the deployment of an international force led by Kenya which is supposed to be helping the police.

“We cannot take this situation of lawlessness anymore in this country,” a demonstrator who declined to give his name said.

“It is unacceptable that we keep losing territory,” this demonstrator said, suggesting that overwhelmed authorities are simply surrendering territory to the gangs.

The poorest country in the Americas, Haiti has suffered for decades from natural disasters, poverty, and chronic political instability. It has not held an election since 2016 and the man elected president then, Jovenel Moise, was assassinated in 2021.

Things have gotten worse since mid-February as gangs controlling 85 percent of Port-au-Prince stepped up attacks on neighborhoods they had not yet seized.

“We demand the restoration of security, free circulation and the return of our children to school,” another demonstrator speaking on condition of anonymity said.

“If the authorities are overtaken by events, they must go,” this man said.

The Kenyan-led force authorized by the United Nations has failed to push back the gangs. The mission has around 1,000 police officers from six countries but was intended to have 2,500.

Overnight Sunday into Monday, gangs attacked a prison in the town of Mirebalais, about 50 km (30 miles) from Port-au-Prince and freed 529 inmates.

This attack and another on a nearby city caused nearly 6,000 people to flee their homes, according to the International Organization for Migration.