PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A growing number of civilians and police are demanding the firing and arrest of Haiti’s police chief. heavily armed gangs launched a new attack in the capital Port-au-Prince, taking control of another police station early Saturday.
Gunmen attacked the coastal community of Gressier on the western tip of Port-au-Prince on Friday evening, injuring people, setting cars on fire and attacking homes and other infrastructure as many people fled to nearby mountains after a barrage of gunfire overnight.
It was not immediately known if anyone had died.
Videos posted on social media showed people fleeing towards dawn, carrying their bags and suitcases on their heads, while men dressed in sandals and carrying heavy weapons celebrated with gunfire.
“The city is ours,” said a man who filmed himself with other armed people, emphasizing that they were in Gressier. “We have no limits.”
The attack occurred about a week later gang attacks in central Port-au-Prince forced more than 3,700 people to flee their homes.
“The situation is critical and catastrophic,” Garry Jean-Baptiste, spokesman for the SPNH-17 police union, told the Associated Press.
He described Frantz Elbé, director of the Haitian National Police, as incapable and incompetent: “Mr. Elbé has failed. »
Jean-Baptiste said the union wants a newly installed transitional presidential council to demand Elbé’s resignation and order judicial authorities to open an investigation into the crisis.
“The police continue to lose their premises, equipment and officers,” he said, adding that at least 30 police stations and sub-stations have been attacked and burned in recent months.
He also accused Elbé and other high-ranking officials of being complicit in gangs.
Elbé did not immediately return a message for comment.
Jean-Baptiste said the officer stationed in Gressier “resisted for a while” but was unable to repel the gang attack due to lack of personnel and resources.
“The police could not prevent the worst,” he said.
Jean-Baptiste said the attack was planned by armed men from the neighboring communities of Village de Dieu, Martissant and Mariani.
Gressier is located in an area controlled by Renel Destina. Better known as “Ti Lapli”, he is a leader of the Grand Ravine gang and considered a key ally of Izo, another powerful gang leader, according to the UN.
The Grand Ravine gang has some 300 members and is accused of murder, kidnapping, rape and other crimes.
Those who fled Gressier now join more than 360,000 other Haitians who have been forced to abandon their homes as gangs razed communities in rival territories to control more land. Tens of thousands of Haitians crowded into squalid makeshift sheltersincluding schools and government buildings abandoned due to gang violence.
Violence increased from February 29, when gangs launched coordinated attacks. Gunmen burned police stations, opened fire on the main international airport closed since March 4 and attacked Haiti’s two largest prisons, freeing more than 4,000 detainees.
Veteran politician André Michel wrote on the social media platform … We will not be able to secure the country ourselves.”
A deployment of Kenyan police supported by the UN arrival in Haiti has been repeatedly delayed, although some believe the first officers could arrive in late May.
Dozens of U.S. military planes have landed at the closed Port-au-Prince airport in recent weeks, carrying civilian contractors, survival gear, construction materials and heavy equipment ahead of the expected arrival of a multinational mission.
News Source : apnews.com
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