Tensions soar in Haiti’s capital after police officers killed
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Loading... - Kirsten Cooper
- 27 Jan 2023
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Protesters erect burning barricades in Port-au-Prince as anger bubbles over following recent killings by Haitian gangs.
Angry demonstrators have roared through the streets of Haiti’s capital, blocking roads and shooting guns into the air to protest a slew of killings of police officers by Haitian gangs over the last week.
Haitian news outlet Le Nouvelliste reported that angry scenes erupted in several neighbourhoods of Port-au-Prince on Thursday, and barricades of burning tyres were erected in the centre of the city.
Public transportation was interrupted and several schools were forced to close, it said. “Armed demonstrators posing as police officers tried to enter the courtyard of the prime minister’s official residence before heading to the airport road,” Le Nouvelliste reported.
Gang violence has been on the rise across Port-au-Prince in recent months, after the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise worsened widespread political instability and created a power vacuum.
The United Nations said in November that armed gangs controlled approximately 60 percent of the capital, where they were carrying out a campaign of murder, kidnappings and sexual violence in an effort to expand their influence and “terrorise” residents.
Gangs have killed at least 10 police officers in the past week, while another is missing and one more has suffered severe bullet wounds, according to the Haitian National Police (HNP). Read More…
