Thousands of protesters marched through the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince on Sunday, demanding the resignation of President Jovenel Moise amid allegations of embezzlement of aid funds.
Judges of the High Court of Auditors released a report last week putting Noise in the center of a scheme that siphoned off Venezuelan aid money intended for road repairs — a program plagued with corruption allegations since being established in 2008, according to Al Jazeera.
"We demand all those squandering [public] funds be tried and punished, their assets seized and turned over to the state for serious development projects, and the president resign and turn himself in," said Velina Charlier, a protest leader, to Al Jazeera.
Anti-corruption protests in #Haiti
The massive crowd is singing…
????Mare vòlè yo????
or
????Arrest the thieves???? pic.twitter.com/IW8BT9Ssj6— Madame Boukman – Justice 4 Haiti ???????? (@madanboukman) June 9, 2019
The Miami Herald reported while President Moise has not made a public statement since the release of the report, which implicates him, business and religious leaders in the country have begun to issue strong rebukes of the countries leadership. “Unabated corruption has become an endemic evil, a messy swamp, a degradation, an organized robbery," said the Episcopal Conference of Haiti. "It has become a real social plague clogging our institutions, [making] politics ill, [threatening] democracy and social peace, and thus seriously [undemrining] — both from an ethical and an economic point of view — the development of our country.”
Huge peaceful crowds of anti-gvmt protesters in #Haiti’s capital are headed towards Petionville now with similar protests underway throughout the rest of he country. pic.twitter.com/dCdOq81hXT— Etant Dupain (@gaetantguevara) June 9, 2019
Despite many reports of protest remaining peaceful throughout, a police spokesman announced two deaths and 12 arrests for vandalism. Opposition groups have said the number of arrests are much higher and raised concerns about a video spreading on WhatsApp, showing a National Police officer stoning a protester while they laid face down not far from President Moise's residence.
“We are asking the [director general of the Haiti National Police] to launch an immediate investigation on the matter,” said Sen. Patrice Dumont to the Miami Herald. “This was an attempted murder if the person did not die.”
