Cité Soleil Residents Protest After Weekend Gang Violence; MSF Hospital Evacuated, Fontaine Hospital Suspends Services — 11 Newborns Evacuated, 800+ Displaced

Residents of Cité Soleil took to the streets on May 12, 2026, demanding government protection in the aftermath of intense gang fighting that began on the morning of May 10 and triggered a cascading humanitarian emergency. MSF's hospital in Cité Soleil — the only health facility accessible to the commune's estimated 300,000 residents who live under total gang control — received more than 40 gunshot victims within 12 hours of the fighting's onset on May 10. At least one MSF security guard was struck by a stray bullet inside the compound (evacuated, condition stable). As fighting intensified, 800+ displaced civilians sought refuge inside the MSF hospital compound before the organization was forced to fully evacuate the facility and temporarily suspend all activities. The Centre Hospitalier de Fontaine, also in Cité Soleil, similarly came under gang fire pressure and suspended operations, evacuating its entire patient population including 11 newborns from the neonatal intensive care unit. MSF teams received the transferred patients — including pregnant women who gave birth overnight Sunday to Monday — at safer locations outside the commune. Witnesses in Cité Soleil on May 12 reported seeing killings over the weekend; burned vehicles and dead livestock were observed in the streets throughout the commune. Hundreds of displaced families were also seen sheltering along the road leading to Toussaint Louverture International Airport. The MSF hospital evacuation is a critical humanitarian escalation: Cité Soleil has been repeatedly denied healthcare access since 2021 as gang violence has shuttered and damaged medical facilities, and the loss of MSF's hospital leaves the entire commune without functioning emergency medical care during active armed conflict. PM Fils-Aimé, who returned from his Rome diplomatic mission on May 11, was in Port-au-Prince during the outbreak. The GSF advance force of approximately 545 personnel had no presence in Cité Soleil — the commune lies outside current joint-operations zones, which remain focused on the Port-au-Prince city center.