The day after a call from Antonio Guterres, the Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), for the deployment of an international armed force in Haiti to help a country “paralyzed”thousands of Haitians demonstrated on Monday, October 10, in Port-au-Prince, to protest against the government.
The demonstration in the capital was peppered with violence, scenes of looting and the police used tear gas to disperse the crowd, noted a correspondent from Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Several people were shot and one person was killed, the AFP correspondent also noted. The organizers accused the police of being behind the death. “This young girl posed no threat. She was killed expressing her desire to live with dignity”denounced a protester in his forties who wished to remain anonymous.
“Interference” by the United States and Canada
“The United States and Canada are interfering in the internal affairs of Haiti”denounced another protester. “We certainly need help to develop our country. But we don’t need boots. Moreover, this government has no legitimacy to request military assistance. We oppose this option”he added.
Haiti has been the scene for several weeks of violent demonstrations and looting, after the announcement by Prime Minister Ariel Henry of an increase in fuel prices. Demonstrations calling for his resignation, and which now oppose his appeal for international aid, are also taking place in other cities of the country.
The Haitian government formalized on Friday its request to the international community for a “specialized armed force” in order to “to stop, throughout the territory, the humanitarian crisis” caused by the action of the gangs, which plague the country.
On Sunday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres “urged the international community (…) to be examined urgently” this application. He denounced in a letter to the members of the Security Council “criminal gangs that have taken control of strategic infrastructure, such as the international port of Port-au-Prince and the country’s main fuel terminal [Varreux] ».
To this situation of shortage of hydrocarbons is added the resurgence of cholera, three years after the end of an epidemic which had killed more than 10,000 people. Already 32 confirmed cases of the disease and sixteen deaths have been recorded for the period from 1er to October 9, according to a report given Monday by the Haitian Ministry of Public Health, which also cites 224 suspected cases, in particular in the civil prison of Port-au-Prince, the largest prison in the country.