On Tuesday, residents of a neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, staged a protest demanding protection from gang violence.
Armed with machetes and stones, the demonstrators attempted to reach the Prime Minister’s office but were met with police resistance, who deployed tear gas to disperse the crowd.
Residents of Canape Vert expressed that they had been receiving threats of a gang invasion for several days and had made multiple requests for police assistance.
On Wednesday, they decided to take action themselves. Armed with knives and machetes, they blocked access to Canape Vert by placing trees and burning tires on the roads.
One protester, draped in the Haitian flag, criticized the government for allowing gangs to operate with impunity in the city. “This is our flag! They (gangs) will not drive us out,” the protester, who chose to remain anonymous, declared.
Another unnamed protester voiced the community’s frustration, stating, “We are tired of running. We have nowhere to go. We say no – that is enough!”
It remains unclear why the police did not respond to the residents’ repeated calls for help made through a local radio station.
The gang threatening the area is affiliated with the Viv Ansamm coalition, which has already seized control of numerous other regions in the capital.
Viv Ansamm is also linked to a series of coordinated assaults that began in late February 2024, targeting critical government infrastructure. These attacks included assaults on police stations, gunfire directed at the main international airport, which resulted in its closure for nearly three months, and raids on Haiti’s two largest prisons, leading to the release of over 4,000 inmates.
Gangs currently dominate 85% of the capital and are persistently targeting previously peaceful neighborhoods in an effort to expand their territory.
