On Tuesday, October 11, protests erupted in several Haitian cities. Police cracked down on demonstrators as anti-government protests degenerated into looting.
In the capital Port-au-Prince, protesters erected burning barricades made of car tires and threw stones at police, which, in turn, used tear gas.
Some protesters then ransacked a hotel, and local media reported several fatalities.
Shots were fired and pictures taken by a Reuters photographer at the scene showed a woman covered in blood lying dead on the ground.
“This is a crime by the police. This young girl did not pose a threat. She was killed because she wanted to express her desire to live with dignity,” complained one protester.
Police have not yet commented on the incident.
Protests also occurred in the western city of Gonaïves, where demonstrators stormed a courthouse, and in Cap-Haïtien on Haiti’s northern coast.
According to local media, many people who took to the streets were angry at the prime minister’s call for foreign forces to be deployed in Haiti, which they rejected as “interference in Haiti’s internal affairs.”
“We certainly need help to develop our country, but we don’t need troops on the ground,” one demonstrator told AFP.
The situation in Haiti has deteriorated rapidly since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse by mercenaries last July.
Gangs have taken control of major highways and Varreux, Haiti’s largest fuel depot. As food and fuel deliveries have stopped, more Haitians are going hungry.
Several charities and relief organizations’ warehouses have been looted, leaving the most vulnerable without food and drinking water.
As clean water becomes harder to come by, cholera cases – a bacterial disease usually transmitted through contaminated water – are increasing.
On Tuesday, the World Health Organization announced that there had been 16 cholera deaths and 32 confirmed cases.
In 2010, about 10,000 people died of cholera when Haiti was devastated by an earthquake.
With information from Latina Press