A powerful gang opened fire on Saturday on a large group of parishioners led by a pastor as they marched through a community armed with machetes to rid the area of gang members.
The attack was filmed in real time by journalists at the scene, and several people were killed and others injured, said Marie Yolene Gilles, director of human rights group Fondasyon Je Klere.
She watched online as hundreds of people from a local church marched through Canaan, a makeshift town in the outskirts of Port-au-Prince founded by survivors who lost their homes in the devastating 2010 earthquake.
It was not immediately clear how many people were killed and injured in the attack.
Canaan is controlled by a gang led by a man identified only as “Jeff,” who is believed to be allied with the “5 Seconds” gang.
Gangs have grown more powerful since the July 2021 assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moise, and they are estimated to control up to 80 percent of Port-au-Prince.
Gedeon Jean, director of Haiti’s Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights, said that he also watched the event unfold online and planned to ask the Haitian Ministry of Justice to investigate.
He accused the pastor of being irresponsible because he “engaged a group of people and put them in a situation like this.”
The parishioners, who clutched machetes and yelled “Free Canaan!” were no match for gang members armed with assault rifles.
“Police should have stopped them from going,” Jean said. “It’s extremely horrible for the state to let something like this happen.”
A spokesperson for Haitian National Police did not return a message for comment.
From Jan. 1 until Aug. 15, more than 2,400 people in Haiti were reported killed, more than 950 kidnapped and another 902 injured, according to the most recent UN statistics.
Fed up with the surge in gang violence, Haitians organized a violent movement in April known as bwa kale that targets suspected gang members. More than 350 people have been killed since the uprising began, according to the UN.
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