More than a dozen suspected gang members on Monday were stoned and burned alive by residents in Port-au-Prince, police and witnesses said, as the UN warned that insecurity in the Haitian capital has reached levels similar to nations at war.
“During a search of a minibus in which there were armed individuals, the police confiscated weapons and other equipment. In addition, more than a dozen individuals traveling in this vehicle were unfortunately lynched by members of the population,” the police said in a statement.
The police did not specify the exact number of victims, nor expand upon the circumstances in which they lost custody of the suspects, who were murdered by residents of Canape-Vert District.
Photo: Reuters
The violence had started before dawn, when gang members burst into several residential areas of the capital, looting homes and attacking residents, witnesses said.
“It was the sound of projectiles that woke us up this morning. It was 3am, the gangs invaded us. There were shots, shots,” a resident of neighboring Turgeau District said.
“If the gangs come to invade us, we will defend ourselves, we too have our own weapons, we have our machetes, we will take their weapons, we will not flee,” another resident said.
“Mothers who want to protect their children can send them elsewhere,” he added.
Dozens of families left the neighborhoods caught in the spiral of violence on Monday, journalists confirmed. Men, women and children fled the scene on foot, carrying a few personal belongings in bags or bundles.
At least three other suspected gang members were killed and then burned midday, according to photographs and videos that were shared online.
The latest grisly killings came as the UN released a report highlighting the surge in murders and kidnappings in Haiti.
Armed gangs “continued to compete to expand their territorial control throughout the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, spreading to previously unaffected neighborhoods,” said the report from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
“With the high number of fatalities and increasing areas under the control of armed gangs, insecurity in the capital has reached levels comparable to countries in armed conflict,” it added.
The number of reported homicides in Haiti has risen by 21 percent, from 673 in the fourth quarter of last year to 815 in the first quarter of this year.
The number of reported kidnappings soared by 63 percent, from 391 to 637.
“The people of Haiti continue to suffer one of the worst human rights crises in decades and a major humanitarian emergency,” the report said.
Clashes among gangs and with police have “become more violent and more frequent,” claiming many civilian lives, it added.
The human rights situation of people living in gang-controlled areas “remains appallingly poor” and conditions in areas newly targeted by the gangs have “worsened significantly,” the report said.
The document highlighted the dire situation for residents of Cite Soleil, along the capital’s waterfront, where snipers have shot passersby on the street from rooftops.
“The inhabitants feel besieged. They can no longer leave their homes for fear of armed violence and the terror imposed by the gangs,” the UN humanitarian coordinator for Haiti said in a separate statement on Sunday.
Between April 14 and Wednesday last week, clashes between rival gangs left nearly 70 people dead, including 18 women and at least two children, the statement added.
“I reiterate the urgent need for the deployment of an international specialized armed force,” Guterres said in his report.
Guterres in October last year relayed a call for help from Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry, asking the UN Security Council to send assistance to help police restore order.
While some nations have indicated a willingness to participate, none have come forward to take the lead.
The UN Human Rights Council last week agreed to provide “technical assistance and support for capacity-building in the promotion and protection of human rights,” and to appoint an expert to monitor the situation.
“The barbary of the gangs has reached a high-water mark,” Haitian Ambassador to the UN Justin Viard told the UN Human Rights Council, pointing to how they “kidnap, execute and burn alive old people, children, pregnant women.”
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