Haiti residents protest after Cite Soleil clashes displace hundreds

By Rédaction Africanews

Residents of the Cite Soleil neighborhood in Haiti’s capital protested Tuesday, demanding government protection after clashes forced hundreds of people to flee their homes over the weekend.

In the desperation to escape the attack, some families have been separated. Lorgue Dorsaint has been on the streets since Sunday, trying to find information about his family.

“I don’t know where my children are. I hear they were killed. I’m holding my heart. I don’t know anything,” said Dorsaint.

Some of the protesters said they saw people getting killed over the weekend in Cite Soleil, where burned cars and dead cows could also be observed.

Haitian authorities have not informed on casualties.

“I know of 7 people who have been killed and also people who have been shot,” said Michel-Ange Toussaint, who had returned briefly to her home in Cite Soleil to gather some clothes.

She said the attacks on civilians began Sunday around 6 p.m., prompting many people to flee the area in search of safety.

“It is our good feet that saved us,” Toussaint said.

Gangs have overtaken more than 90% of Port-au-Prince since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021 at his home.

Police say they have expanded their activities — including looting, kidnapping, sexual assaults and rape — into the countryside. Haiti has not had a president since the assassination.

In a statement released Monday, the humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders announced the evacuation of its hospital in Cite Soleil following the intense clashes Sunday.

In April, the first foreign troops linked to a U.N. force arrived in Haiti to help quell ongoing violence.

The U.N. Security Council in late September approved a plan to authorize a 5,550-member force, which has not fully arrived in the island nation. An unknown number of troops from Chad have so far been deployed.

A report published earlier this year by the International Organization for Migration found that gang violence has displaced more than 1.4 million people in Haiti, with approximately 200,000 of them now living in crowded and underfunded sites in the nation’s capital.