Throngs of protesters filled the streets of Port-au-Prince on Thursday to call for the resignation of President Jovenel Moise over widespread corruption in the government, according to The Miami Herald.
Crowds of people marched throughout Haiti on Thursday, with many demanding Moise resign on the two-year anniversary of his inauguration.
"For two years, Jovenel has promised to fill our plates. But I can't eat lies," protester Josue Louis-Jeune said in the capital Port-au-Prince, banging a metal plate with a spoon, according to the AFP.
Haitians have been suffering from a 15 percent inflation spike over the last two years, as the value of the gourde, the national currency, led to widespread price increases on everyday essentials.
"We can't handle this economic slump any more: we have no electricity, no security, and now flour and bread sellers have decided to close their doors due to inflation. So we've started new hunger riots," said Ulrich Louima, one of the protesters.
Several vehicles were set on fire by the protesters, who also attempted to set a gas station on fire.
There were several clashes between police and protesters, who used tear gas and live fire shot into the air to disperse the marchers.
The Superior Court of Auditors published a report last week which detailed how more than a dozen former ministers and senior officials potentially misappropriated development funds loaned from Venezuela for more than a decade.
The report also highlighted how the President was a beneficiary of funds from a major road construction project by the company he led.
"Since his name is cited in the audit court report, he (Moise) should have to face justice, to tell the people what happened," said activist Pascale Solages.
Haiti National Police deputy spokesman Gary Desrosiers said police registered at least two deaths, 14 injured cops, and 36 arrests on Thursday's protests.
There have been two major protests last October and November, where demonstrators were calling for the government to be accountable for nearly $2 billion in misused funds from the PetroCaribe oil program.
Earlier this week, a boat with at least 30 Haitian migrants shipwrecked off the coast of the Bahamas after launching from Port-de-Paix.
-WN.com, Maureen Foody
Photo:
AP / Dieu Nalio Chery
