Heavy gunfire on Thursday paralyzed Haiti’s capital and at least four police officers were slain as a gang leader announced that he would try to capture the country’s police chief and government ministers.
The move came during the absence of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who is in Kenya trying to finalize details for the deployment of a foreign armed force to Haiti to help combat gangs.
Gunmen shot at Haiti’s main international airport and other targets, including police stations.
Photo: AP
At least four police officers, including two women, were killed in an attack on a station near the community of Canaan, a police union said.
The violence forced the airport, businesses, government agencies and schools to close as parents and young children fled through the streets. At least one airline, Sunrise Airways, suspended all flights.
Jimmy Cherizier, known as “Barbecue” and leader of the gang federation G9 Family and Allies, was seen in a recorded video announcing that the aim was to tie up the police chief and government ministers, and prevent Henry from returning to Haiti.
“With our guns and with the Haitian people, we will free the country,” Cherizier said.
A spokesman for the prime minister’s office could not be immediately reached for comment.
The head of Haiti’s National Police, Frantz Elbe, and police spokesman Garry Desrosiers did not return messages for comment.
Armored vehicles patrolled empty streets in downtown Port-au-Prince, while others were stationed near gang-controlled slums.
Residents in some neighborhoods, including Canape Vert and Turgeau, set up roadblocks to prevent gangs from entering as men who were not wearing uniforms stood by with machine guns.
Pierre Alex Boucher, a math teacher who lives in downtown Port-au-Prince, said he heard heavy gunfire before dawn.
Several hours later, as the gunfire continued, he stood on his roof and said he saw police in an armored vehicle fighting gang members before abruptly leaving.
The shooting then worsened, and when he saw what he said were teenagers with machine guns, he fled his home, feeling that his life was in danger.
“The area is completely invaded by gangs,” Boucher said of his neighborhood. “A lot of people couldn’t make it out, and some locked themselves inside their homes.”
He said he spoke with friends who saw people who had been shot to death.
“The country has to revolt against the gangs,” he said. “No one is safe.”
It was not clear whether Cherizier had the backing of other major gangs, which are estimated to control up to 80 percent of Haiti’s capital.
Diego Da Rin, with the International Crisis Group, said that Cherizier in his speech referred to a coalition called Viv Ansanm, which means “living together” in Haitian Creole.
It remains to be seen whether Cherizier truly has the support of other gang leaders, Da Rin said.
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