Haitian Police Blockade Port-au-Prince Streets After Gangs Kill 14 Officers
In Haiti, police officers blocked streets in the capital Port-au-Prince Thursday, burning tires and damaging vehicles, before descending on the main airport to protest the recent killing of 14 officers by armed gangs. Over 100 officers in plain clothes took part in the protest. Local media report that a small group could break through the gates of Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s home but then rerouted to the airport, where Henry was returning from the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, or CELAC, a summit in Argentina. This is a protester.
Protester: “We will attack all the ministers, all the directors general. There has to be a revolution. The children have to go to school for this revolution to take place. There has to be a bloodbath. All these policemen have been killed, and the prime minister has not reacted to pay tribute to them.”
Armed gangs now control some 60% of Port-au-Prince, according to local groups. An estimated 78 police officers have been killed since Henry, the United States backs, came to power in 2021 following the assassination of Haiti’s former president. Henry had close links to a prime suspect in the assassination.
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