Thousands of Haitians took to the streets on Wednesday, staging mass protests in major cities to demand an end to the gang violence that has plagued the nation as security officers from Kenya continue to face the heat of the gangs.
Demonstrators brandished machetes while others waved palm leaves as they made their way through the streets of Port-au-Prince, where schools, banks, and other businesses remained closed.
The demonstrations came just a few days after a Kenyan police officer was reportedly killed during a confrontation with gang members.
The Kenyan officer, whose identity remains undisclosed by the National Police Service, was shot dead by gang members on Tuesday, March 25, during an operation in the Lower Artibonite region, which is located 92 kilometres north of Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince.
The agitated demonstrators who blocked major roads in the Caribean nation lit tires as they chanted, “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go, and get them out!”
Meanwhile, scrutiny continues to mount on the Kenyan police deployed in the country after the gangs renewed their attacks on them.
According to the protestors, they were marching to take over the Prime Minister’s office and 'burn down' the CPT, referring to the offices of Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council, according to reporting from ABC News.
"We, the residents of the Solino neighborhood, we want to return home, and we will go home," added Julien David, another protester told Reuters.
All this comes as a Kenyan police officer in Haiti, together with his colleague, is currently nursing serious injuries after a gunshot to the head during deadly clashes with Haitian gangs last week.
Three officers who spoke to the international publication Reuters on the condition of anonymity disclosed that one officer was shot in the head after a bullet pierced his helmet, and the other was hit in the ear when a gunshot penetrated the walls of an armoured vehicle.
The officers said the officers were injured during routine patrols in the capital of Port-au-Prince, in a development that was confirmed by the Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission spokesperson, Jack Ombaka.
Discontent and anger continue to rise as Kenya Police officers, alongside their Haitian counterparts and the Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission, battle gangs that already control 85 per cent of Port-au-Prince.
The officers deployed under the MSSM have been faced with significant challenges, among them the lack of enough manpower to take on the gangs.
