Thousands march against gangs in Haiti as Vatican is notified of murder of two nuns
Thousands of Haitians marched through the streets of the country's volatile capital on Wednesday, defying tear gas and gangs as they vented their anger against the surge in gang violence and demanded the resignation of the country's transitional authorities and the head of the Haiti National Police.
During the massive protest, demonstrators brandished machetes and firearms. Others waved tree branches and red and black flags, once the symbol of the Duvalier dictatorship, but which has since become associated with other forces in Haiti. Protesters burned tires and blocked roads as they traveled down from Pétion-Ville and up from Delmas to converge on the offices of Haiti's Transitional Presidential Council and prime minister.
Along the road, new graffiiti emerged in red: 'Aba Primature,' 'Aba CPT' — Down with the prime minister's office and Down with the Transitional Presidential Council.
Threatening to attack both the offices of the Council and Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, the crowd at one point ripped up an aluminum billboard sign, threw it on the ground and beat it with hammers. As they got closer to the offices, however, they were met by riot police who fired tear gas and, according to journalists on the scene, live rounds. While some protesters fled, others began throwing rocks. A Haitian police spokesman did not respond to a request from the Miami Herald about the use of live ammunition to disperse protest crowds.
The protest was organized by a police officer who is assigned to the specialized unit inside the presidential palace, and heads a so-called citizens self-defense brigade for Canapé-Vert, one of the latest Port-au-Prince neighborhoods to come under gang attack.
The protest march, one of the largest since the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse plunged the country deeper into despair, is a warning to Haiti's ruling authorities, which have been unable to bring relief amid the surge in gang attacks that led to the deaths of more than 5,600 people last year. Ahead of the demonstration, rumors circulated of pending gang attacks both in the capital and in Haiti's Central Plateau region, which led police to be on the offensive and concerned residents to remain home. More protests are expected this week both in the capital and in Léogâne, another city that has been hit by the violence.
Wednesday's protest took place a day before the one-year anniversary of the political accord that was supposed to return stability to Haiti with the guidance of the ruling nine member presidential council. However, the power-sharing arrangement, which was created with the help of the Caribbean Community and the U.S. in Jamaica in March 2024, has not lived up to expectations. Haiti is unlikely to see a vote on a new constitutional referendum this year, or to have general elections, which were last held in 2016.
The council has been engulfed in controversy amid accusations over corruption allegations involving three of its members and instead of relief from gangs, Haitians are seeing a tightening of their grip. As much as 90% of metropolitan Port-au-Prince is under the control of criminal groups, which in recent weeks have escalated their attacks.
On Monday, the violence hit Haiti's Central Plateau after gangs stormed the rural town of Mirebalais, 31 miles northeast of the capital and not far from the border with the Dominican Republic. After setting fire to part of the police substation and burning vehicles in the yard, gangs stormed the prison and freed more than 500 inmates. The incident also led to widespread looting and the burning of homes, schools and churches, the United Nations said.
In the mayhem, two Roman Catholic nuns were shot dead. The nuns, identified as Sister Evanette Onezaire and Sister Jeanne Voltaire, were working at the National School in Mirebalais and had taken refuge in a house along with a young girl. Armed gang members entered the house and shot the sisters to death. The young girl was shot in the chest. Her status remains unknown. The nuns' killings were reported to the Vatican.
A voice message on WhatsApp from a nun talking about the slaying said the incident happened around 7 p.m. and others in the house were also killed by gangs that came onto the property two hours before.
On Tuesday, residents continued to flee the town amid more gang attacks and growing concerns that Mirebalais could fall to gangs. In a post on X, the nonprofit organization Zanmi Lasante, which runs the 350-bed University Hospital of Mirebalais, issued a plea.
'The brutal attacks on Mirebalais threaten one of Haiti's most critical hospitals. If Mirebalais falls, Haiti's health system faces collapse. Hundreds of thousands will be left without life-saving care. The world must act NOW,' the organization said.
In response to the violence police have sent reinforcements to the town and replaced the head of the local police. They also confiscated an armored loader that the gangs had been using. The violence in Mirebalais and Saut d'Eau, which connects the Haitian capital with the center of the country, forced a total of 5,981 to flee their places of residence, the U.N. International Organization for Migrants said Wednesday
'The majority of displaced individuals (83%) found refuge within host communities, while 17% settled in 14 displacement sites newly established as a result of this incident,' the U.N. said.
The incident in Haiti's center highlights how gang activity is expanding beyond the West region, where Port-au-Prince is located, Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres told journalists in New York on Wednesday.
As protesters in Port-au-Prince divided themselves into different groups and prepared as early as 8 a.m. to march on government offices, Mirebalais continued to be under threat.
Gunshots were reported in the city as the fight against gangs suffered another setback: a helicopter, leased from the government of Taiwan to help Haitian authorities transport police troops and members of the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission to hot zones, was reported to be out of commission. The day, before armed gangs fired on the chopper, striking a police officer onboard in the arm.
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