Haiti cholera violence targets UN peacekeepers
Protests in Haiti over the death toll of the cholera epidemic have moved to the capital Port-Au-Prince, where demonstrators are confronting UN peacekeepers outside the Presidential Palace.
Several hundred protesters stoned a UN patrol and yelled anti-UN slogans in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince Thursday as anger spread over a cholera epidemic that is killing dozens of people every day.
Police fired tear gas to disperse the demonstrators who blame UN peacekeepers for bringing the disease to Haiti, where national elections are to be held on 28 Nov, more than 10 months after a devastating earthquake.
Reports that Nepalese UN troops were the source of the raging cholera outbreak have angered many in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest state, although the United Nations says there is no conclusive evidence to support this.
A patrol of UN blue helmets withdrew hastily after they were pelted with stones by the demonstrators, who also tried to block streets with rocks and debris.
The protesters shouted “MINUSTAH must go” and “MINUSTAH brought cholera to Haiti,” referring to the acronym of the UN mission in the Caribbean country.
The protest in the heart of the capital followed several days of anti-UN riots in the northern city of Cap-Haitien, where at least two people were killed and several dozen injured in clashes between rioters and UN troops.
In the north of the country, the violence has badly disrupted UN-led international efforts to stem the spread of the cholera epidemic that has killed more than 1,110 people and sickened well over 18,000.
