As protests, looting continue, a tropical storm may be zeroing in on Haiti

A tropical storm warning was issued across Haiti Friday as the country continued to burn with anger and fires. Charities and schools outside of the capital came under violent attack while Port-au-Prince remained in a state of paralysis, with blocked roads, fiery barricades and shuttered businesses.

The country’s Office of Civil Protection and the meteorological service said they had decided to place Haiti under a yellow alert due to Tropical Storm Fiona. The storm could bring gusts of up to 85 mph, the disaster response agency said.

“According to the Hydrometeorological Unit of Haiti, the eye of the hurricane may arrive on the north coast of the country from Monday night to Tuesday, Sept. 20. Although it may lose strength as it crosses the Dominican Republic, Fiona may bring heavy rainfall [100 to 380 millimeters], especially in the mountains,” the Civil Protection Office said. “This can cause flooding, strong winds and high seas on the north coast of the country and in the Gulf of La Gonave.”

The threat of a looming storm, however, wasn’t enough to stop the pillaging in some cities.

A small charity-run factory in the city of Gonaives that was built by a donor, became the latest victim when looters entered early Friday morning and ransacked the facility, taking everything they could. A group of nuns next door had to be protected by the police, a local journalist in the city confirmed to the Miami Herald.

Video images showed young men running through the city’s dusty streets, carting off tables and chairs on top of their heads. Others transported their loot by motorcycle. Also pillaged were the College of Immaculate Conception and the Saint Family School run by the Parish of St. Joseph. In the nearby town of Montrouis along the coast, protesters also looted and partly burned five beachfront homes of wealthy individuals.

The looting followed an attack on two charity warehouses in the city the day prior. Caritas, a Catholic charity, was ransacked and protesters made off with bags of rice and other food. The United Nations World Food Program also confirmed that one of its warehouses had been cleaned out and the adjacent offices burned down.

The warehouse contained 1,400 metric tons of WFP food intended for school canteens, families and the most vulnerable children in Haiti, the organization said in a statement. The organization’s personnel were all safe and no employees were directly targeted.

“This incident is simply unacceptable. The looted food was intended to feed nearly 100,000 schoolchildren until the end of the year and provide emergency aid to the most vulnerable families in Haiti,” said Jean-Martin Bauer, WFP country director in Haiti. “WFP is present in Haiti to support vulnerable communities with urgent needs, while strengthening local production and livelihoods through our long-term resilience initiatives.

Since Monday, Haiti has been sinking into chaos in widespread anti-government protests that have turned violent in parts of Port-au-Prince, as well as rural cities like Petit Goave and Gonaives. The protests had been intensifying for weeks, stoked by the rising cost of living, a scarcity of U.S. dollars, political manipulation and the lack of fuel at the pumps after two suppliers, providing 40% of the market, stopped ordering.

While many Haitians have taken to the streets to express their generalized frustrations with deteriorating living conditions and the lack of response from the interim government, others have done so at the encouragement of politicians, who called on protesters to attack local banks and money transfer houses while demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

After Henry on Sunday night announced a hike in fuel prices, saying the government could no longer sustain $400 million in subsidies and that low prices were helping a black market flourish, the protests intensified. In the process, factories in Port-au-Pince and in the north of the country have temporarily closed; charities and businesses have been ransacked, banks have been targeted and the homes of at least two Henry supporters have come under attack. Several foreign embassies have also temporarily closed their doors, citing the demonstrations.

Other than taking to Twitter to defend the hike, the government has not said anything. Local diplomats who have long argued that the subsidies are not sustainable have also been mum, recognizing on the one hand the general frustration of a population falling deeper and deeper into misery while on the other hand sensing the manipulation of the crowd by those seeking a power grab.

It is unclear how many people have been injured in the protests, but lawyers in the seaside town of Jacmel said they know of at least 20 victims. The individuals were attacked earlier this month, the lawyers said, when a peaceful protest turned ugly. .

Anel Colin said he is among five lawyers representing 14 protesters who were injured by gunshots on Sept. 7, when they were peacefully protesting in front of a gas station owned by a prominent businessman and his family only to be greeted by “thugs and gunshots.”

“They were marching peacefully and when they looked, bottles were being thrown and shots were fired,” Colin said, adding that they have video of the shooting.

Colin, who shared images of some of the injured victims with the Herald, said he and other lawyers have filed a complaint with the government prosecutor’s office. “Since the complaints were filed....the prosecutor’s office has not taken any of the measures necessary with a filing,” he said.

In the complaint — shared by Colin and another lawyer, Markendy Sanon — the businessmen are accused of attempted murder.

Despite the attack, Colin said protests were ongoing in the city. “Right now the population is still protesting against the high cost of living, bad governance, blackout, the lack of security and hunger,” he said.

Also of concern is the availability or lack thereof of fuel. The protests have hampered fuel delivery with more than 188,000 barrels of diesel, propane and gasoline stuck at sea, unable to unload due to security issues. On Friday, some of the fuel had successfully managed to make it to the Varreux terminal, but a boat delivering 30,000 barrels of gasoline and another with propane were still awaiting pilots to unload.

In New York, Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, said aid workers are reporting they are deeply concerned about what’s unfolding in Haiti.

“The violent civil unrest and countrywide road closures make it very challenging for humanitarian partners to provide assistance at this stage,” Dujarric said. “We and our humanitarian partners remain on the ground and are ready to assist people in need across the country. However, a shortfall in funding and pre-positioned supplies, including risks to supplies on the ground means that we will struggle with supplying aid in the coming days.”

That’s separate from Tropical Storm Fiona, which could make a bad situation even worse.