A growing number of civilians and police officers are demanding the dismissal and arrest of Haiti’s police chief as heavily armed gangs launched a new attack in the capital of Port-au-Prince, seizing control of yet another police station early on Saturday.
Armed men raided the coastal community of Gressier in the western tip of Port-au-Prince late on Friday, injuring people, burning vehicles and attacking homes and other infrastructure as scores of people fled into the nearby mountains following a barrage of gunfire overnight.
It was not immediately known if anyone died.
Photo: AP
Videos posted on social media showed people fleeing into the early dawn, balancing bags and suitcases on their heads as men carrying heavy weapons celebrated with gunfire.
“The town is ours,” said one man who filmed himself with others who were armed, saying that they were in Gressier. “We have no limits.”
The attack comes about a week after gang attacks in central Port-au-Prince forced more than 3,700 people to flee their homes.
“The situation is critical and catastrophic,” said Garry Jean-Baptiste, a spokesman for the SPNH-17 police union.
He called Haitian National Police Director-General Frantz Elbe incapable and incompetent.
“Monsieur Elbe has failed,” Jean-Baptiste said.
The union wants a newly installed transitional presidential council to demand Elbe’s resignation and order justice officials to launch an investigation into the crisis, Jean-Baptiste said.
“Police continue to lose their premises and equipment and officers,” he said, adding that at least 30 police stations and substations have been attacked and burned in the past few months.
He also accused Elbe and other high-ranking officials of being complicit with gangs.
Elbe did not immediately return a message for comment.
Jean-Baptiste said the officer who was stationed in Gressier “resisted for a while,” but was unable to stave off the gang attack given a lack of staff and resources.
“The police could not prevent the worst,” he said.
The attack was planned by gunmen who came from the neighboring communities of Village de Dieu, Martissant and Mariani, Jean-Baptiste said.
Gressier is in an area controlled by Renel Destina. Best known as “Ti Lapli,” he is a leader of the Grand Ravine gang and considered a key ally of Izo, another powerful gang leader, the UN has said.
The Grand Ravine gang has about 300 members and is accused of killings, kidnappings, rapes and other crimes.
Those fleeing Gressier now join more than 360,000 other Haitians who have been forced to abandon their homes as gangs raze communities in rival territories to control more land. Tens of thousands of Haitians have squeezed into squalid, makeshift shelters, including schools and government buildings abandoned due to gang violence.
The violence surged starting on Feb. 29, when gangs launched coordinated attacks. Gunmen have burned police stations, opened fire on the main international airport that remains closed since March 4 and raided Haiti’s two biggest prisons, freeing more than 4,000 inmates.
A UN-backed deployment of Kenyan police officers to Haiti has been repeatedly delayed, although some believe the first officers might arrive late this month.
Scores of US military planes have been landing at the shuttered airport in Port-au-Prince in the past few weeks, carrying civilian contractors, life-saving supplies, building materials and heavy equipment ahead of the anticipated arrival of a multinational mission.
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