PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Police in Haiti’s capital used tear gas against hundreds of peaceful protesters on Monday and called on law enforcement to help them stop gangs that have violently taken control of their neighborhoods.
Protesters burned tires to express their anger at police actions and frustration that recent attempts to curb rampant gang violence in Port-au-Prince have largely failed.
Protesters like 24-year-old telephone repairman Marclin Jean-Pierre said he took to the streets “to express my anger at the government that doesn’t listen.”
“We are under fire day and night. Everyone is afraid to go outside because we could be the next victims,” he said. “We ask them for help, but they don’t come.”
Jean-Pierre lives in the hillside district of Solino, which since last year has become a battlefield for gangs trying to take over the area.
Local media reported that the attacks were carried out by a coalition of gangs led by Kempes Sanon, a convicted kidnapper who escaped from prison in 2021, and notorious gang leader Jimmy Cherizier, also known as “Barbecue.”
Since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, gangs have taken control of large parts of the country and currently control about 80% of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
In Solino, the gangs attempted to seize a strategically important route, including the road to the capital’s international airport. Families in the area were terrorized and had little choice.
Despite promises by recently appointed Prime Minister Garry Conille to make security a top priority and the arrival of about 400 Kenyan police officers as part of a United Nations-backed mission, many people in Haiti say they have not sensed an end to the bloodshed.
Just last week, another violent prison break left a dozen people dead, and hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee their homes over the years.
Residents of the Solino neighborhood protested in the hope that their concerns would be heard by the authorities and that police would be sent to fight the gangs. Instead, the protesters were blocked by barricades and sprayed with tear gas.
Many men and women fled from the same powers they had hoped would protect them. And some, like Jean-Pierre, were left with a bitter aftertaste.
“The international community is not making enough efforts to end the violence,” said Jean-Pierre.
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