Haitian protesters called for the withdrawal of United Nations troops from Haiti on Wednesday, clashing with police and security forces.
The protesters demanded UN troops, there since 2004, leave and hurled rocks at Haitian police in riot gear. In response, the officers fired tear gas canisters to dispersed the crowd of several hundred people.
The UN has 12,000 military and police personnel stationed in Haiti, which have come under increasing criticism from Haitians after several incidents of abuse. The alleged sexual assault of an 18 year old Haitian man by UN peacekeepers in July has added to the Haitian peoples’ grievances.
A cholera outbreak that was likely introduced by a UN battalion from Nepal and has killed more than 6,200 people since last October was also among the complaints.
The UN forces have been in Haiti since violence broke out in 2004 and former President Jean Bertrand Aristide was ousted from power. Reports of US involvement in his ouster have only added to Haitian distrust of foreign presence, which has been part of its history for hundreds of years.
Poor, poor Haitian people. As if they didn't have enough problems already, they also have the NATO boot on their necks too. And the tragic irony of these oppressed, depressed and repressed people, some of the poorest on the face of the Earth protesting is painful when compared to that of their fat, complacent and stupid counter-parts in the good ole US of Ass.
There has not been a foreign presence for hundres of years. There was the brutal American occupation from 1915 to 1934. Then the second invasion came when Bill Clinton sent in the 10th. Mountain dvision, presumably to restore democracy in the figure of Aristide who bought quite a few American politicians to have his country occupied a second time.
What is the solution to Haiti? More then 200 years after its creation, it remains the poorest and most miserable country in the western hemisphere. And I see no change anytime soon. Anyone?