Filed under: Haiti, Student Protests | Tags: NGO, Student Prisoners, Student Protests, United Nations
Haiti’s university students continue to protest the current minimum wage of less than $2 a day. For about the past week, downtown Port-au-Prince has played host to afternoon confrontations between university students and national police forces. The students have blocked traffic with burning barricades and some within the larger mass have been throwing rocks at cars that mistakenly find themselves too close to the action.
The response from the police has been to try and disrupt the protests with tear gas, so each afternoon you can hear canisters of tear gas launching off into crowds. So far there hasn’t been a violent crackdown on the protesters, the type that leaves multiple dead. However, last I heard, 24 students were being held in prison and Haiti’s foremost human rights organization was demanding their unconditional release.
The students certainly have people on edge and the general unpredictability of the protests has disrupted life a bit for afternoon commuters. I for one was a bit startled this morning to see the remains of a charred mini-van sitting timidly in front of Fonkoze’s central office; though it would have been quite a sight to see it fully engulfed in flames. FYI, the mini-van’s presence in front of Fonkoze is just a product of our proximity to the protests and not anything malicious (at least that’s what I think…).
While I haven’t strolled close enough to the action to feel threatened, the fact that Fonkoze’s office sits at the epicenter of the activity means I’ve had two meetings canceled because the visitors were affraid to come downtown. I’ve also had a UN officer tell me it’s not safe to walk the streets because of anti-foreigner sentiments within the crowd. The irony, however, is that such “anti-foreigner sentiment” insofar as it exists is a product of the UN’s presence as an occupying force – though I bit my tongue on this occasion.
1 Comment so far
Leave a comment
Wear a Gramsci shirt, grow out out your beard, carry some rocks and protest posters with you, and you’ll fit right in.
What are they trying to prove with the protesting?
The charred minivan must have hit home.
Comment by demers June 11, 2009 @ 5:11 PM