Police in Haiti fired tear gas at protestors on Monday as demonstrations against Prime Minister Ariel Henry continue to rage on in the nation’s Capital, Port-Au-Prince.

The protests were conducted to criticize Ariel Henry’s lack of action to curb gang violence. According to an HRW report, the cycle of violence began after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021, with Henry leading the country without a constitutional mandate because he did not receive parliamentary approval. In 2022, there were almost 900 kidnappings and 1350 homicides related to gang violence between January and August alone. 

The UN has warned in the past that the escalating gang violence in Haiti has the potential to spill out across the Caribbean, with most of the guns involved in the conflicts being smuggled from the US. Ghada Waly, the UN head of the Drug and Crime Office, took to X (formerly Twitter) to express her alarm at the escalating crime and violence in Haiti, emphasizing the need for ‘urgent action’ on the UN’s part. To combat the social and political upheaval, the UN launched in later 2023 a one-year multinational mission led by Kenya to help Haiti through its humanitarian crisis.

However, this multinational mission has been plagued by social and political challenges. Recently, the Kenyan High Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to send officers to Haiti unless the two nations had a reciprocal agreement under the National Police Service Act.