Thousands of Haitians they demonstrated this Tuesday in several cities of the country against insecurity and kidnappings, in the largest demonstration that has occurred in the country since the assassination of the president Jovenel Moiseperpetrated last July.
The March The most numerous was that of Port-au-Prince, which was practically peaceful, while in the city of Les Cayes (southwest) there were riots, in which at least one protester died and a small plane was set on fire by the activists.
The mobilization day was called by numerous political and civil society associations and organizations to express their displeasure at the inaction of the Government and the Police in combating the criminality of the armed gangs, which control important neighborhoods of the capital and terrorize the population .
NO TO “INTERFERENCES”
In Port-au-Prince, the protesters denounced the “interference” of the international community in the country’s political situation, criticizing the United Nations and the Core Group, the group that brings together the ambassadors of the United States, Spain, the European Union, Canada and Brazil and to the representatives in the country of the UN and OAS.
The Core Group was criticized in particular for its support for Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who took power last August after Moise’s death, but has not yet reached a consensus to call elections and is increasingly questioned.
You may be interested in: Assassination of Jovenel Moïse: Colombian ex-soldiers are cremated in Haiti
“Ariel Henry and the UN, assassins of Jovenel Moise”could be read on one of the banners displayed by the protesters, who also carried drawings of Che Guevara and Jean Jacques Dessalines, hero of Haitian independence, as well as copies of the Constitution, promulgated on such a day as today, in 1987.
Trucks equipped with powerful loudspeakers blared anti-government songs and slogans demanding Henry’s unconditional resignation. “Down with the looter and murderer that is the UN”, “Down with kidnapping”, “Venezuela is our good friend”, “Down with the interference of the Core Group”, “Ariel is a murderer, arrest him and take him to the penitentiary”, they I read in other messages.
The demonstrators set fire to tires distributed along the entire length of the protest, which ended in Champ de Mars, the main public square in the country, located in front of the National Palace.
RIOTS IN LES CAYES
Les Cayes, The largest city in the southern peninsula of Haiti, was the scene of the most serious clashes of the day, in which at least one protester died, apparently from police shots, and a twin-engine plane was set on fire at the Antoine Simon airport.
The agents of the Departmental Order Maintenance Unit (UDMO) and the Brigade to Fight Drug Trafficking (BLTS) used tear gas and live ammunition to disperse the angry crowd. Before, the demonstrators entered the airport, caused damage to the terminal facilities, climbed into the fuselage of the plane and destroyed it before setting it on fire.
The inhabitants of Les Cayes complained in this way about a recent increase in airport taxes, at a time when it is practically impossible to travel by road to the capital due to the control that the armed gangs exercise in the Martissant neighborhood, at the entrance south of Port-au-Prince.
The first Minister Henry He condemned the plane fire through a Twitter message, in which he assured that he had instructed the public powers to take action against the authors of “these subversive acts, so that they are severely punished.” Acts of violence and crime, including kidnappings, have reached an alarming level in recent months and have worsened in particular after the death of President Moise.