PORT-AU-PRINCE — Dozens of residents of la Plaine du Cul- de- Sac took to the streets May 7 to protest the continuing gang battles that the police have been unable to stop.
“I was born on August 10, 1962,” one protester dressed with a white Notre Dame de Lourdes T-shirt said on Local News TV. “This is the first time I see such a situation in Plaine du Cul-de Sac.”
“State, how do you feel?,” the protester added. “There are children who are going to take exams at their schools, students in universities. You advise them to go buy weapons.”
Gang confrontations have caused vast movement of populations in areas like Tabarre, Croix-des-Bouquets and Cité Soleil. About 9,000 people are displaced, living now with foster families or in shelters. At least 75 people were killed, including women and children and 68 others were injured, according to the United Nations.
In the protest many of them were wearing white T-shirts and were equipped with denunciation signs and tree branches.
On Friday, protesters gathered at 9:00 a.m. by the roundabout of Bon Repos, a neighborhood of Plaine du Cul-de-Sac headed to Lizon. “La Plaine should not turn into Martissant,” “We do not want war,” were their slogans throughout the protest.
The main demand was for authorities to restore peace in the area and to allow people to return to their homes. Many children, adults and senior citizens took part in that protest.
The United Nations has also indicated in a press release that they are quite concerned about the deterioration of escalated violence especially in those areas.
“The United Nations calls on the authorities to make further efforts in combating gangs to restore order as soon as possible,” the United Nations said.
The United Nations also calls for legal action against those responsible for this state of violence.
There appears to be an apparent calm in la Plaine du Cul-de-Sac after two weeks of fighting among the 400 Mawozo and Chen Mechan gangs. Police officers were on National 1 Road to rid the streets of barricades.