MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th August, 2023) Thousands of Haitians took to the streets of the capital of Port-au-Prince on Monday calling for protection from gang violence plaguing the Carrefour-Feuilles neighborhood, media report.
The demonstration was sparked by the death of a police officer, who was killed in a shootout with gang members over the weekend, the Gazette Haiti news outlet reported. Over the past days, police also clashed with gangs in the Savanne Pistache area, the report added.
"Not a day goes by without heavy gunfire being heard, we fear stray bullets," a Carrefour-Feuilles resident was quoted as saying by the media.
The protesters were chanting anti-government slogans, accusing the authorities of failing to act against rising gang violence. The march passed through the capital's downtown area, then heading to the prime minister's official residence. Some burned tires along the route and pelted buildings with stones.
Haiti has long been mired in a socio-political crisis that escalated after the assassination of then-President Jovenel Moise on July 7, 2021. The country faced an unprecedented increase in the activities of criminal groups, while the humanitarian situation has been further deteriorating due to natural disasters such as severe floods, torrential rains and earthquakes.
More than 1,600 people have been reported killed, injured or kidnapped in Haiti from January to March this year, which is a nearly 30% increase compared October-December of 2022, according to a fresh UN report. The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund said on Monday that almost 300 confirmed cases of kidnappings of women and children have been reported in the nation so far, nearly equaling the total number reported in 2022 and almost three times the total of 2021.
