Massive protest in Haiti against request for military assistance

Thousands of people demonstrated on Monday in the capital of Haiti against the Government and its request for international help to face the serious humanitarian crisis, insecurity and the outbreak of cholera that the island is facing.

The day after the UN Secretary General called for the deployment of an international armed force to help the country, the protest recorded scenes of violence and lootingto which the police responded with tear gas, observed an AFP correspondent.

Several people were shot and one died. according to the same correspondent.

“It is true that we need help to develop our country. But we don’t need boots” on the ground, one protester said in reference to the troop dispatch.

“Furthermore, this government lacks the legitimacy to request military assistance. We oppose this option,” he added.

Haiti has been the scene for several weeks of violent demonstrations and looting, after the announcement of a rise in fuel prices made by Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

On Friday, the government formally asked the international community to help of a “specialized armed force” to “stop, throughout the territory, the humanitarian crisis” caused by the actions of the gangs that abound in the country.

In turn, the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterresasked on Sunday “the international community (…) to urgently examine” the request.

The Haitian government’s decision to ask the international community to send troops to deal with the serious crisis in the country is not unanimous, to the point that the Senate has demanded that the request on that deployment be annulled.

In a resolution released this Monday and sent to state entities and to the special representative of the UN Secretary General in Haiti, Helen La Lime, the assembly of senators asks the Haitian Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, to “Immediately suspend the execution of the resolution of October 7” about the deployment of a foreign armed force.