logo
‘Freedom or death': Protesters in Haiti demand new government as gang violence grips Port-au-Prince

‘Freedom or death': Protesters in Haiti demand new government as gang violence grips Port-au-Prince

First Post04-05-2025

Dozens of protesters marched up the hills of Haiti's capital on Sunday demanding an end to persistent gang violence as they called on the country's prime minister and transitional presidential council to resign. read more
A soldier carries out an anti-gang operation in the Kenscoff neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Feb. 3, 2025. Image- AP
Dozens of protesters marched through the hills of Haiti's capital on Sunday, voicing their demands for an end to escalating gang violence and calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry and the transitional presidential council.
The protest, which reflects growing frustration over the surge in violence as gangs attempt to take full control of Port-au-Prince, highlighted the deepening crisis facing the nation. 'The only thing the Haitian people are asking for is security,' said Eric Jean, a 42-year-old bus driver, marching with a Haitian flag around his neck. 'We're losing more neighborhoods, more people are dying, more people are fleeing their homes.'
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Marc Étienne, a 39-year-old businessman whose livelihood was destroyed by gang raids, also joined the protest. He now lives in a makeshift camp, alongside tens of thousands of others forced to flee their homes after gangs ravaged their communities.
'Haiti cannot be run among friends,' he said. 'The city is dying because the (council) is not doing anything to make it better.'
Sunday's demonstration comes a day after hundreds of people gathered in Port-au-Prince to honor several community leaders killed in recent clashes with gangs.
'Freedom or death!' the mourners shouted on Saturday as the leaders of the Canapé-Vert neighborhood entered a small stadium where the memorial was held.
Videos posted on social media showed the leaders carrying automatic weapons and wearing black T-shirts emblazoned with pictures of those killed. Many wore balaclavas to cover their faces and protect themselves from possible retaliation by gangs.
Clad in white, the mourners raised their fists and clutched hands in the air as a man on stage roared in Haitian Creole, 'The blood is not going to be shed in vain! The fight is what?'
'Just beginning!' the crowd answered in unison.
The unidentified man on stage said the community would never forget the slain leaders as he condemned gang violence. 'People are dying, and they don't even know why they're dying,' he said.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Canapé-Vert is one of the few neighborhoods that has yet to fall to gangs that control at least 85% of the capital. It also is known for having one of Port-au-Prince's most powerful neighborhood organizations, led in part by frustrated police officers.
In early April, Canapé-Vert leaders organized a large protest that became violent as they, too, demanded that Haiti's prime minister and its transitional presidential council resign.
Sunday's demonstration and other recent protests have decried the country's spiraling crisis, with more than 1,600 people killed and another 580 injured from January to March.
In mid-March, hundreds of people armed with sticks and machetes, accompanied by members of an armed environmental brigade, successfully ousted more than 100 suspected gang members that had seized control of a Catholic school, according to a new report issued by the U.N. political mission in Haiti.
But the ouster is only one of a handful of successful fights against powerful gangs backed by certain politicians and some of Haiti's elite.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Last year, more than 5,600 people across Haiti were killed, according to the U.N.
Gang violence also has left more than one million people homeless in recent years.
Gunmen in recent months have targeted once peaceful neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince that would give them easy access to Pétion-Ville, a residential area where banks, embassies and other institutions are located.
In a February attack on Delmas 30, gunmen 'indiscriminately fired on the population in the neighborhood, killing 21 men and injuring eight others,' according to the U.N. report.
In a separate attack on a nearby neighborhood where the French embassy is located, at least 30 people were killed, many of whom were traveling in small colorful buses known as tap taps, according to the report.
Other victims include at least 15 people who were family members of police officers.
Gangs also have attacked multiple communities in Haiti's central Artibonite region, killing adults and small children as they fled.
'The indiscriminate and brutal nature of some of these attacks shows the gang's strategy to spread panic and reduce the resistance of the local population,' according to the BINUH report.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Meanwhile, Haiti's National Police, bolstered by a U.N.-backed mission led by Kenyan police, has struggled in its fight against gangs as the mission remains underfunded and understaffed, with only 1,000 personnel of the 2,500 envisioned.
In a push to crack down on gangs, the U.S. government on Friday officially designated Viv Ansanm, a powerful gang coalition, and Gran Grif, the largest gang to operate in Haiti's central region, as foreign terror organisations.
Critics warn the move could affect aid organisations working in Haiti at a critical time, since many are forced to negotiate with gangs to supply people with basic goods including food and water.
With inputs from agencies

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Afghans who fled post-takeover ‘free to return,' says Taliban PM in Eid al-Adha message
Afghans who fled post-takeover ‘free to return,' says Taliban PM in Eid al-Adha message

First Post

timean hour ago

  • First Post

Afghans who fled post-takeover ‘free to return,' says Taliban PM in Eid al-Adha message

Taliban Prime Minister Mohammad Hassan Akhund announced the amnesty offer in a message for the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha, also known as the 'Feast of Sacrifice' read more Taliban fighters speak with a boy during the Eid al-Adha prayers the Shah-Do Shamshira Mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan. AP On Saturday, a top Taliban official declared that any Afghans who fled the country following the collapse of the old Western-backed government are free to return, and that they will not be harmed if they do. Taliban Prime Minister Mohammad Hassan Akhund announced the amnesty offer in a message for the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha, also known as the 'Feast of Sacrifice.' The offer comes only days after US President Donald Trump issued a broad travel ban targeting 12 nations, including Afghanistan. The proposal essentially excludes Afghans wishing to relocate in the United States permanently as well as those hoping to visit the country temporarily, such as for university studies. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Trump also suspended a core refugee program in January, all but ending support for Afghans who had allied with the U.S. and leaving tens of thousands of them stranded. Afghans in neighbouring Pakistan who are awaiting resettlement are also dealing with a deportation drive by the Islamabad government to get them out of the country. Almost a million have left Pakistan since October 2023 to avoid arrest and expulsion. Akhund's holiday message was posted on the social platform X. 'Afghans who have left the country should return to their homeland,' he said. 'Nobody will harm them." 'Come back to your ancestral land and live in an atmosphere of peace,' he added, and instructed officials to properly manage services for returning refugees and to ensure they were given shelter and support. He also used the occasion to criticize the media for making what he said were 'false judgements' about Afghanistan's Taliban rulers and their policies. 'We must not allow the torch of the Islamic system to be extinguished,' he said. 'The media should avoid false judgments and should not minimize the accomplishments of the system. While challenges exist, we must remain vigilant.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The Taliban swept into the capital Kabul and seized most of Afghanistan in a blitz in mid-August 2021 as the U.S. and NATO forces were in the last weeks of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war. The offensive prompted a mass exodus, with tens of thousands of Afghans thronging the airport in chaotic scenes, hoping for a flight out on the U.S. military airlift. People also fled across the border, to neighbouring Iran and Pakistan. Among those escaping the new Taliban rulers were also former government officials, journalists, activists, those who had helped the U.S. during its campaign against the Taliban.

UK judge warns of risk to justice after lawyers cited fake AI-generated cases in court
UK judge warns of risk to justice after lawyers cited fake AI-generated cases in court

Mint

time2 hours ago

  • Mint

UK judge warns of risk to justice after lawyers cited fake AI-generated cases in court

LONDON (AP) — Lawyers have cited fake cases generated by artificial intelligence in court proceedings in England, a judge has said — warning that attorneys could be prosecuted if they don't check the accuracy of their research. High Court justice Victoria Sharp said the misuse of AI has 'serious implications for the administration of justice and public confidence in the justice system.' In the latest example of how judicial systems around the world are grappling with how to handle the increasing presence of artificial intelligence in court, Sharp and fellow judge Jeremy Johnson chastised lawyers in two recent cases in a ruling on Friday. They were asked to rule after lower court judges raised concerns about 'suspected use by lawyers of generative artificial intelligence tools to produce written legal arguments or witness statements which are not then checked,' leading to false information being put before the court. In a ruling written by Sharp, the judges said that in a 90 million pound ($120 million) lawsuit over an alleged breach of a financing agreement involving the Qatar National Bank, a lawyer cited 18 cases that did not exist. The client in the case, Hamad Al-Haroun, apologized for unintentionally misleading the court with false information produced by publicly available AI tools, and said he was responsible, rather than his solicitor Abid Hussain. But Sharp said it was 'extraordinary that the lawyer was relying on the client for the accuracy of their legal research, rather than the other way around.' In the other incident, a lawyer cited five fake cases in a tenant's housing claim against the London Borough of Haringey. Barrister Sarah Forey denied using AI, but Sharp said she had 'not provided to the court a coherent explanation for what happened.' The judges referred the lawyers in both cases to their professional regulators, but did not take more serious action. Sharp said providing false material as if it were genuine could be considered contempt of court or, in the 'most egregious cases,' perverting the course of justice, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. She said in the judgment that AI is a 'powerful technology' and a 'useful tool' for the law. 'Artificial intelligence is a tool that carries with it risks as well as opportunities,' the judge said. 'Its use must take place therefore with an appropriate degree of oversight, and within a regulatory framework that ensures compliance with well-established professional and ethical standards if public confidence in the administration of justice is to be maintained.'

Drought, rising prices and dwindling herds undercut this year's Eid al-Adha in North Africa
Drought, rising prices and dwindling herds undercut this year's Eid al-Adha in North Africa

Time of India

time3 hours ago

  • Time of India

Drought, rising prices and dwindling herds undercut this year's Eid al-Adha in North Africa

Drought, rising prices, dwindling herds undercut this year's Eid al-Adha in North Africa (AP) Morocco: Flocks of sheep once quilted Morocco's mountain pastures, stretched across Algeria's vast plateaus and grazed along Tunisia's green coastline. But the cascading effects of climate change have sparked a region-wide shortage that is being felt acutely as Muslims throughout North Africa celebrate Eid al-Adha. Each year, Muslims slaughter sheep to honor a passage of the Quran in which the Prophet Ibrahim prepared to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God, who intervened and replaced the child with a sheep. But this year, rising prices and falling supply are creating new challenges, breeders and potential buyers throughout the region say. At a market in suburban Algiers last week, breeders explained to angry patrons that their prices had increased because the cost of everything needed to raise sheep, including animal feed, transport and veterinary care, had grown. Slimane Aouadi stood watching livestock pens, discussing with his wife whether to buy a sheep to celebrate this year's Eid. "It's the same sheep as the one I bought last year, the same look and the same weight, but it costs $75 more," Aouadi, a doctor, told The Associated Press. Amid soaring inflation, sheep can sell for more than $1,200, an exorbitant amount in a country where average monthly incomes hover below $270. Tradition meets reality Any disruption to the ritual sacrifice can be sensitive, a blow to religious tradition and source of anger toward rising prices and the hardship they bring. So Morocco and Algeria have resorted to unprecedented measures. Algerian officials earlier this year announced plans to import a staggering 1 million sheep to make up for domestic shortages. Morocco's King Mohammed VI broke with tradition and urged Muslims to abstain from the Eid sacrifice. Local officials across the kingdom have closed livestock markets, preventing customers from buying sheep for this year's celebrations. "Our country is facing climatic and economic challenges that have resulted in a substantial decline in livestock numbers. Performing the sacrifice in these difficult circumstances will cause real harm to large segments of our people, especially those with limited incomes," the king, who is also Morocco's highest religious authority, wrote in a February letter read on national television. Trucks have unloaded thousands of sheep in new markets in Algiers and the surrounding suburbs. University of Toulouse agro-economist Lotfi Gharnaout told the state-run newspaper El Moudjahid that Algeria's import strategy could cost between $230 and $260 million and still not even meet nationwide demand. Thinning pastures Overgrazing has long strained parts of North Africa where the population is growing and job opportunities beyond herding and farming are scarce. But after seven years of drought, it's the lack of rainfall and skyrocketing feed prices that are now shrinking herds. Drought conditions, experts say, have degraded forage lands where shepherds graze their flocks and farmers grow cereals to be sold as animal feed. With less supply, prices have spiked beyond the reach of middle class families who have historically purchased sheep for slaughter. Moroccan economist Najib Akesbi said shrinking herds stemmed directly from vegetation loss in grazing areas. The prolonged drought has compounded inflation already fueled by the war in Ukraine. "Most livestock farming in North Africa is pastoral, which means it's farming that relies purely on nature, like wild plants and forests, and vegetation that grows off rainwater," Akesbi, a former professor at Hassan II Institute of Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine, said. For breeders, he added, livestock serve as a kind of bank, assets they sell to cover expenses and repay debts. With consecutive years of drought and rising feed costs, breeders are seeing their reserves drained. Pressed herders With less natural vegetation, breeders have to spend more on supplemental feed, Acharf Majdoubi, president of Morocco's Association of Sheep and Goat Breeders said. In good years, pastures can nourish nearly all of what sheep flocks require, but in dry years, it can be as low as half or a third of the feed required. "We have to make up the rest by buying feed like straw and barley," he said. Not only do they need more feed. The price of barley, straw and alfalfa -- much of which has to be imported -- has also spiked. In Morocco, the price of barley and straw are three times what they were before the drought, while the price of alfalfa has more than doubled. "The future of this profession is very difficult. Breeders leave the countryside to immigrate to the city, and some will never come back," Achraf Majdoubi said.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store