Protesters tear-gassed in Port-au-Prince, gangs still present in Kenscoff
The PNH dispersed a peaceful march in Port-au-Prince with tear gas. In Kenscoff, witnesses assert that armed groups remain active despite official announcements.
Port-au-Prince: unarmed protesters tear-gassed by police, Kenscoff under gang control
The Haitian National Police (PNH) resorted to tear gas on Friday 4 September 2026 to disperse a peaceful gathering in Port-au-Prince, according to testimonies collected by rezonodwes.com. The march, whose route had been communicated to the authorities several days in advance, aimed to demand the departure of Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé and to support an institutional transition involving the Court of Cassation. The police intervention took place as the procession had barely started.
Serge Jean-Louis, a former deputy for Marchand-Dessalines, described the response of the security forces as "disproportionate". He asserts that the participants posed "no armed threat" and reports that professor Bato Junior was mistreated by officers before being transported to hospital. For Jean-Louis, the episode raises the question of the effective exercise of the right to protest and political freedom of expression in Haiti.
An advocate for a transition based on the Court of Cassation, the former parliamentarian frames this mobilisation as part of a strategy of civil pressure against the sitting executive.
The situation differs radically in Kenscoff, a municipality in the West department recently struck by a massacre. Despite security operations announced by the authorities, a local resident asserts on Radio Kiskeya that armed men remain active in the Via 1 and Via 2 sectors. His testimony directly challenges the assurances presented by Raina Forbin before the Organisation of American States (OAS) concerning the intensification of operations in this mountainous area. "That is false and utterly false," he stated.
The same witness indicates that residents do not yet perceive any improvement commensurate with the announced measures. He also emphasises that assistance provided to victims who did not previously benefit from emergency aid remains insufficient.
Source: Google News HT — Crime