Prince Port.- Haiti’s armed gangs have called for a series of demonstrations to reject the arrival, scheduled for May 26, of the multinational force to restore security in the nation, which Kenya will lead.
The demonstrations are organized by the armed coalition “Vivre Ensemble” (Living Together), led by the powerful Haitian former police officer Jimmy Cherisier, alias ‘Barbecue’.
Carrefour, south of Port-au-Prince, is practically paralyzed this Saturday, as it was yesterday, since the armed structures that control the area demand that the population prepare to take to the streets to demonstrate against the arrival of the police forces.
To attract large crowds, bandits are forcing thousands of people to take to the streets under threat of being beaten, killed or expelled if they refuse, as happened on Friday in Fontamara, in the south of the capital; in Bel-air, in the heart of the capital, and in Canaan, at the northern entrance to Port-au-Prince, where thousands of citizens demonstrated.
In the massive demonstrations, heavily armed men wearing balaclavas shouted slogans hostile to the international community and the multinational force to assist the Haitian Police, approved last October by the Security Council of the United Nations (UN).
Information circulating on social media suggests that gang leaders are putting pressure on their members to prevent them from fleeing into the interior before the arrival of the international force.
Meanwhile, the armed gangs are gaining new territories and on Friday night they took over the police station in the town of Gressier, at the southern entrance to the capital, which until then was not under the control of the gangs.
An upsurge in kidnappings has also been reported these days in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince, at the same time that there is a timid resumption of school activities in the capital.
For several days, US military planes have been coming and going on the runway at the Toussaint Louverture airport in Port-au-Prince, as part of the preparations for the initial deployment of the multinational force.
Source: EFE
