28 gang members killed by police and residents

Haitian police and residents of Port-au-Prince killed 28 gang members on Tuesday, December 19, after they launched an offensive in several neighborhoods of the capital, a police spokesperson told AFP. Police intercepted a truck and a minibus carrying these gang members to two neighborhoods during the night, killing 10 on the spot, then chased and killed others along with residents, according to the deputy spokesperson for the National Police from Haiti (PNH), Lionel Lazarre. During these two encounters, the police opened fire on the gang members, killing 10 of them, according to the same source. Forced to flee, the others were chased and then killed by residents, organized into self-defense groups, and police officers.

Since last week, Port-au-Prince has been facing a new outbreak of violence caused by “Live Together” (Living Together), the gang alliance formed in February that managed to overthrow Prime Minister Ariel Henry. This coalition has launched in recent hours an attack against Pétion-Ville and other neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince such as Bourdon and Canapé Vert, after an appeal launched on social networks by one of its leaders, Jimmy Chérisier, alias «Barbecue». “We demand the resignation of the Presidential Transitional Council (CPT). The Viv ansanm coalition will use all its means to achieve the departure of the CPT”he declared Monday evening. This violence takes place in a context of political crisis, marked by the dismissal on November 10 by the CPT of the Prime Minister, Garry Conille, who was replaced by the businessman Alix Didier Fils-Aimé.

Haiti, already the poorest country in the region, has long suffered from the violence of criminal gangs, accused of numerous murders, rapes, looting and kidnappings for ransom. In the capital, the streets were almost deserted on Tuesday, after the police and the population erected barricades in several neighborhoods to stop the gang offensive. Port-au-Prince is also almost cut off from the rest of the world after the decision of the American aviation regulator (FAA) to ban commercial flights by American companies to Haiti. More than 20,000 people have been displaced in four days in the Haitian capital, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Saturday.