Dozens of protesters marched up the hills of Haiti’s capital on Sunday, demanding an end to persistent gang violence as they called on the country’s prime minister and transitional presidential council to resign. It’s the latest such protest as Haitians grow increasingly angry and frustrated over a surge in violence as gangs try to seize full control of Port-au-Prince.
“We need security, we need food, we need a place to sleep, we need healthcare. If you are the head of the state and you feel you can’t take the responsibility, turn away and leave,” said Hip Hop singer and demonstrator Stevenson Telfort Artis known as A.T.R.O.S. Sunday’s demonstration comes a day after hundreds of people gathered in the capital, Port-au-Prince, to honour several community leaders killed in recent clashes with gangs.
The demonstration and recent protests were organized to decry the country’s spiralling crisis, with more than 1,600 people killed and another 580 injured from January to March. In mid-March, hundreds of people armed with sticks and machetes, accompanied by members of an armed environmental brigade, successfully ousted more than 100 suspected gang members that had seized control of a Catholic school, according to a new report issued by the U.N. political mission in Haiti.
But the ouster is only one of a handful of successful fights against powerful gangs backed by certain politicians and some of Haiti’s elite. Last year, more than 5,600 people across Haiti were killed, according to the U.N. Gang violence also has left more than one million people homeless in recent years. Meanwhile, Hait’s National Police, bolstered by a U.N.-backed mission led by Kenyan police, has struggled in its fight against gangs as the mission remains underfunded and understaffed, with only 1,000 personnel of the 2,500 envisioned.
In a push to crack down on gangs, the U.S. government on Friday officially designated Viv Ansanm, a powerful gang coalition, and Gran Grif, the largest gang to operate in Haiti’s central region, as foreign terror organizations. Critics warn the move could affect aid organizations working in Haiti at a critical time, since many have to negotiate with gangs to supply people with basic goods, including food and water.
