The protest in Cite Soleil — one of Port-au-Prince’s most impoverished and gang-ravaged neighborhoods — drew roughly two dozen people to an intersection Tuesday, where demonstrators holding tree branches called for police intervention even as gunfire crackled in the distance. The action followed a surge of gang attacks that began Sunday around 6 p.m., sending hundreds of residents fleeing their homes, witnesses told the Associated Press.
Among the displaced was Roselaine Jean-Pierre, 67, who fled her home on Sunday and is now sleeping on the streets of the capital. “I did not do anything to deserve this,” she said.
Michel-Ange Toussaint had returned briefly to her home in Cite Soleil on Tuesday to gather clothing. She said she knew of at least seven people killed and others shot during the Sunday attacks. Burned cars and dead cows were visible in the neighborhood in the aftermath, according to witnesses, though Haitian authorities have not released any official casualty figures. “It is our good feet that saved us,” Toussaint said.
The violence forced the suspension of medical services in the area. Doctors Without Borders announced Monday that it had evacuated its hospital in Cite Soleil following the intense weekend clashes. On Tuesday, the Centre Hospitalier de Fontaine said it had also suspended operations and evacuated all of its hospitalized patients, including 11 newborns.
Gangs have steadily expanded their hold on Haiti since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenal Moïse at his residence, an event that left the country without an elected head of state. Haitian police now estimate that armed groups control roughly 70% of Port-au-Prince — down from a peak of 90% — and have extended their activities, including looting, kidnapping, sexual assault, and rape, into rural areas. No president has been inaugurated since Moïse’s killing.
In response to the crisis, the United Nations Security Council approved a plan in late September 2025 to authorize a 5,550-member multinational security support force. The first foreign troops linked to that force arrived in Haiti in April 2026, but the full contingent has not yet deployed. An unknown number of troops from Chad have been deployed to date.
A report published earlier this year by the International Organization for Migration found that gang violence has displaced more than 1.4 million people across Haiti, with approximately 200,000 of them now living in crowded and underfunded displacement sites in the capital.