PORT-AU-PRINCE, Oct 11, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Thousands of Haitians demonstrated
Monday in Port-au-Prince to protest against the government and its call for
foreign assistance to deal with endemic insecurity, a humanitarian crisis and
a burgeoning cholera epidemic.

A day after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for immediate
deployment of a special international armed force in Haiti to help the
crisis-hit Caribbean state, the demonstration in the capital was marred by
violence, with police using tear gas to disperse looters, an AFP
correspondent said.

"We certainly need help to develop our country, but we don't need boots" on
the ground, one protester told AFP, charging that the international community
was "interfering in the internal affairs of Haiti" and that the government
had "no legitimacy to ask for military assistance."

Several people were shot and one person was reported to have been killed
during the rallies. Protesters blamed the police for the fatality.

"It is a crime perpetrated by the police. This young girl posed no threat.
She was killed expressing her desire to live in dignity," said another
protester, who declined to give his name.

Haiti has been the scene for several weeks of violent demonstrations and
looting, after the announcement by the head of government of an increase in
fuel prices.

Demonstrators calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who
appealed for international support, also took to the streets in other cities
across the country.

The Haitian government on Friday formalized its request for international
assistance to staunch spiraling insecurity.

Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, is facing an acute political,
economic, security and health crisis, with a cholera epidemic now looming --
circumstances that have paralyzed the country and sparked a breakdown of law
and order.

Since mid-September, the country's largest fuel import terminal, in Varreux,
has been controlled by armed gangs.

And last week health experts warned of a resurgence of cholera, three years
after an epidemic that killed 10,000 people.

The health ministry said Monday 32 confirmed cases of the disease and 16
deaths have already been recorded, with another 224 suspected cases during
the period from October 1 to 9.

The ministry also said cases have been detected in the Port-au-Prince's
prison, the largest in the country, where the conditions of detention are
dire.