2024-03-02 02:51:34
Violence continues to rage in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, with shootings near a prison and the airport, as gangs say they want to overthrow Prime Minister Ariel Henry who is visiting Kenya, it was reported on Friday (01.03 .2024).
The riots began on Thursday following Henry left for Nairobi. Since then, at least four police officers have died and dozens of people have been injured in a country mired in a serious political, security and humanitarian crisis.
In some areas of the Haitian capital, heavy shootings and traffic interruptions were reported, the United States embassy in Haiti reported through its social networks.
The gangs, united under the motto “Live together”, carried out coordinated attacks in the capital once morest strategic locations such as the prison, the international airport and police buildings.
Women run for cover during armed clashes between police and gang members in Port-au-Prince on Friday (03/01/2024).Image: Odelyn Joseph/AP Photo/picture alliance
Haitian gang leader Jimmy Cherizier, also known as Barbecue, warned Friday that he will continue trying to overthrow Prime Minister Ariel Henry, and called on families to keep children from school to “avoid collateral damage.”
Henry visiting Kenya
Henry traveled to Kenya where he signed an agreement to send Kenyan police to the island, as part of an international mission supported by the United Nations to fight violence by criminal gangs.
“The battle will last as long as necessary. We will continue fighting Ariel Henry. To avoid collateral damage, keep the children at home,” the gang leader said at a press conference. Cherizier is a former police officer who leads a gang alliance and caused unrest when he blocked Haiti’s largest oil terminal in 2022.
Workers from an electrical company in Port-au-Prince put out a fire during protests once morest Ariel Henry’s government on Friday (03/01/2024).Image: Odelyn Joseph/AP Photo/picture alliance
In another episode, a dozen police officers protested to demand the recovery of the bodies of their four colleagues murdered on Thursday, during an attack by gang members on the Bon-Repos sub-police station, in Croix-des-Bouquedts.
As the streets of Port-au-Prince remain blocked by barricades of burning tires, aid workers are worried regarding the supply of medicine.
At Toussaint-Louverture International Airport, despite the shooting nearby, flights to the United States and the Dominican Republic resumed on Friday, a source close to the airlines said.
Women shelter from bullets during a confrontation between police and gang members in the capital of Haiti on Friday (03/01/2024).Image: Odelyn Joseph/AP Photo/picture alliance
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