Looting follows violent fuel protests in Haiti’s capital
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Looters pillaged burned and vandalized shops in Haiti’s capital Sunday following two days of violent protests over the government’s attemptto raise fuel prices.
Journalists saw young men stripping shelves bare in some supermarkets that were charred from the protests. Several bodies lay among debris scattered in the streets.
With the situation still chaotic, the U.S. Embassy in Portau-Prince on Sunday warned U.S. citizens to shelter in place. It noted that many airline flights had been canceled andsaid, “The airport has limited food and water available.”
“Telecommunications services, including Internet and phone lines, have been affected throughout Haiti,” the embassy added.
The cancellation of flights stranded church groups and volunteers from a number of U.S. states, including South Carolina, Florida, Georgia and Alabama.
Chapin United Methodist Church in South Carolina posted online that its mission team was safe but stranded. Marcy Kenny, assimilation minister for the church, told The State newspaper that the group hoped the unrest would abate enough for them to safely make it to the airport.
A North Carolina doctor and his son were part of another medical mission group that was unable to leave. Shelley Collins told WRAL-TV that her husband, James, and their son made it to an airport but could not fly out.
Police Director-General Michel-Ange Gedeon ordered officers to crack down on what he called “bandits who disturb the peace and security ofthe country.”
At least three people were killed in protests Friday, and police said the bodies of four people were found Sunday in the streets of the Delmas district, though they didn’t say if that was related to the protests.
The government on Saturday scrapped plans to raise fuel prices to 38 percent to 51 percent. The hike was prompted by the International Monetary Fund, which pushed Haitian officials to reduce government subsidies for fuel. Officials also agreed to increase social services spending, improve infrastructure and do a better job of collecting taxes.
Inresponse, many Haitians rioted. Activists set up flaming roadblocks, bringing travel around the city to a stand-still. Looters raided supermarkets and other stores. Others targeted hotels and businesses, according to Reuters. In a report, they wrote that the capital was been “paralyzed.”
On Saturday, about 120 Americans and 100 Haitians were forced to hold up in the Oasis hotel after demonstrators tried to set the building alight and rush past security. One guest, Stacy Librandi Bourne, told CNN that she thinks “it’s possible that right now some peace might be restored because of the most recent announcement by the prime minister, that he was going to delay things, the price onthe gas.”
A youth group from Bradenton, Fla., was stopped at a roadblock on their way to the Port-au-Prince airport. Executive pastor Dewayne McFarlin told Reuters that armed men stopped the caravan of teenagers, demanding payment in exchange for safe passage.
Rev. McFarlin and his team managed to talk their way through, he said. But just a few miles later, they came upon another group of armed protesters burning tires. “They weren’t government or police,” Rev. McFarlin said. “Just people taking advantage ofthe situation.”
Rev. McFarlin and his group returned to Neply. He says the youth group probably won’t leave the area until Monday.