ARTICLE - PROBLEMS OF THE CHAMP-DE-MARS

THE PROBLEM OF THE CHAMP-DE-MARS IS NOT REALLY THE INSECURITY
(Haiti Libre) -

Yesterday, the Divisional Inspector Dupont Joseph of the Commissariat of Port-au-Prince has informed that the problem on the Champ-de-Mars is not really the insecurity. Today, the biggest problem for the National Police of Haiti (PNH) are the students who make demonstrations in the area.

Inspector Joseph explained that the number of cases are decreasing: "from June 2011 to August 2011 at the Commissariat of Port-au-Prince we recorded 23 cases of armed robbery in the area of ​​the Champ-de-Mars, and from August 1 to August 11 we recorded at the Commissariat three cases. When I say three cases, these are three cases that were reported at the Commissariat..."

A series of operations has been conducted by the PNH "[...] in relation to this situation we have conducted several operations on the Champ-de-Mars. Following the information we obtained; there were two groups that were causing problems on the Champ-de-Mars; groups who took as their nickname "chèlè" and "bèt nwa". During the operations we removed empty tents from the Champ-de-Mars and have arrested several of these guys and dismantled these groups..."

The divisional inspector explained that today "the problem that we have on the Champ-de-Mars is not really an issue of insecurity as people think. The problem is that there is a group of petty thieves doing snatches of mobile phones [...]; but compared to the problems we had before when the gangsters used their weapons to kill people, as the case of the student who was killed after being robbed [...] such cases are now rare on the Champ-de-Mars [...] It is true that last week we had a student who was shot near the Faculty of Éthonologie..."

Mr. Joseph explained that police work is hampered by protest movements of the students. "For almost a week our work is stopped on the Champ-de-Mars [...] We are obliged to focus on student activities [demonstrations in the area of the Faculty of Éthonologie], instead of conducting operations [...] Today the biggest problem we have on the level of the Champ-de-Mars is the problem of students, because the area has became inaccessible to us..."

Today the Presidency set his position in regard to the student victims of acts of aggression in the area of ​​the Champ-de-Mars, by taking all appropriate legal action to secure the students and the general population in that area.