Armed gangs attacked a wealthy suburb of the capital, police say, as part of an effort to bring down the government.
The Haitian National Police have reported that 28 alleged gang members were killed by state security forces and armed residents in the latest clashes in the capital city of Port-au-Prince.
A Tuesday attack targeting the upscale suburb of Petion-Ville overlooking the capital had been announced over social media by Jimmy Cherizier, a former elite police officer turned leader of the powerful gang coalition calling itself Viv Ansanm (Haitian Creole for “Living Together”).
The latest violence comes in the wake of the collapse of Haiti’s government last week and more than three years of constant turmoil following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in 2021.
Cherizier has called for the resignation of the Presidential Transition Council (CPT) now leading the country. “The Viv Ansanm coalition will use all its means to achieve the departure of the CPT,” Cherizier said on Monday.
The police say that two vehicles carrying alleged gang members tried to enter Petion-Ville at 2am (08:00 GMT), with one blocking off the main road. In recent weeks, gangs have pushed into various previously safe districts to expand their control of the capital.
Details about exactly what happened next are not clear, but Lionel Lazarre, deputy spokesman for the Haitian National Police, said that at least 28 suspected gang members were killed by law enforcement and vigilante groups set up in opposition to the gangs.
Reports from the ground depict a gruesome scene, with vigilantes decapitating the bodies of alleged gang members, cutting off limbs, and setting piles of bodies on fire with rubber tyres.
Harsh reprisals by vigilantes have become a disturbing feature of the fight against the powerful gangs that violently control large swathes of the Haitian capital. Last year, dozens of alleged gang members were stoned and burned alive in the capital.
Criminal groups, which became more powerful amid the political turmoil following Moise’s assassination, have fuelled widespread violence, instability, and the mass displacement of residents.
The United Nations Humanitarian Air Service announced on Monday that it would resume aid flights to the country following a weeklong pause that began after three commercial planes were struck by gunfire.
On Sunday, the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced that 20,000 people were displaced over the weekend in the capital, where gangs have continued to expand their control.
“The isolation of Port-au-Prince is amplifying an already dire humanitarian situation,” IOM Haiti chief Gregoire Goodstein said in a statement, adding that only 20 percent of the capital was accessible to humanitarian workers.
The IOM estimates that by early September, more than 700,000 people had been internally displaced in the country.
“Our ability to deliver aid is stretched to its limits. Without immediate international support, the suffering will worsen exponentially,” said Goodstein.
A 400-strong UN-backed international policing mission, staffed mostly by officers from Kenya who arrived in late June, has made little progress in their fight to roll back the influence of the criminal groups.
The UN is due to meet on Wednesday to discuss a request by Haiti’s government to upgrade the police mission to a fully-fledged peacekeeping force.
