By Jennifer Glickel
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MIDTOWN — Hundreds of people at a rally memorializing the one-year anniversary of Haiti's devastating earthquake marched in Midtown Wednesday chanting, "A year of pain, time for change!"
Rally-goers decried the lack of progress in the rebuilding efforts in Haiti since the Jan. 12 earthquake, holding signs that read, "Clean Water!," "Give the Haitian People JOBS!" and "Permanent & Safe HOUSING."
The rally began in Times Square and stopped at the Haitian Consulate on Madison Avenue before reaching Dag Hammarskjold Plaza outside the United Nations, where community leaders including the Rev. Al Sharpton, City Council members Jumaane Williams and Mathieu Eugene and Comptroller John Liu spoke.
"One year later, with all the telethons and all the people walking up and down the airstrip in Port-au-Prince like it's a red carpet in a video, and nothing has been built," Rev. Sharpton said. "This is about rebuilding a nation that we helped to bring down in the first place."
Ten activists were arrested for civil disobedience during the rally, including Housing Works president and CEO Charles King. The group lined up across Madison Avenue with their arms linked and stopped traffic until they were arrested. NYPD was notified in advance of the planned incident.
Rally participants, like 26-year-old Valencia Riche, said that not nearly enough had been done for the one million people still living in tents in Haiti because their homes were destroyed.
"My friends tell me that it's still the same as the day after the earthquake. Nothing has changed, it's so sad," said Riche, who was born and raised in Haiti and moved to the U.S. when she was 18.
"We fought for our independence," Riche added. "We shouldn’t have to fight for it. We should be free."
