Heavily armed gangs have tried to seize control of Haiti’s main airport after 4,000 inmates escaped prison and started ‘massacring people indiscriminately’.
Shocking videos have emerged of men and women fleeing in fear as shots ring out across the Toussaint Louverture International Airport.
It marks a further escalation in the raging violence that broke out when a top gang leader pushed to overthrow the prime minister, with gangs storming public buildings and the National Penitentiary, freeing an estimated 4,000 inmates.
The ensuing chaos has forced more than 15,000 people to flee their homes, many of which have been destroyed, leaving them living in camps.
One of the men who remained in the prison after the mass break-out, Francisco Uribe, pleaded for help, saying: ‘They are massacring people indiscriminately inside the cells.’
Shocking footage showed civilians fleeing gunfire while authorities clashed with armed gangs
Pedestrians walk past a soldier guarding the area of the international airport that is under attack in Port-au-Prince
Soldiers are guarding the international airport
The attacks on the airport mark a dramatic rise in gang violence in the country with groups exchanging gunfire with police and soldiers in the latest attack on key government sites.
The gangs’ aim is to prevent Prime Minister Ariel Henry from returning to Haiti, from where he is thought to be abroad.
The gangs are led by Jimmy Cherizier, a former elite police officer known as Barbecue who now runs the gang federation. He has claimed responsibility for the surge in attacks.
He said their goal is to capture Haiti’s police chief and government ministers and prevent Henry’s return. Control of the airport is key in their plan.
The Toussaint Louverture International Airport was closed when the attack occurred, with no planes operating and no passengers on site.
Haitian newspaper, Le Nouvelliste reported that flights have been suspended for the past few days due to the violence.
Associated Press journalists saw an armored truck on the tarmac shooting at gangs to try to prevent them from entering airport grounds as scores of employees and other workers fled from whizzing bullets.
It is the biggest attack on the airport in Haiti’s history.
Last week, the airport was struck briefly by bullets amid ongoing gang attacks, but gangs did not enter the airport nor seize control of it.
The attack occurred just hours after authorities in Haiti ordered a night-time curfew following violence in which armed gang members overran the two biggest prisons and freed thousands of inmates over the weekend.
A 72-hour state of emergency began on Sunday night.
Gang leader Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherisier and his men are seen in Port-au-Prince, Barbecue is leading the attacks on the airport
Masked members of “G9 and Family” gang who are part of the recent attacks
The government said it would try to track down the escaped inmates, including from a penitentiary were the vast majority were in pre-trial detention, with some accused of killings, kidnappings and other crimes.
‘The police were ordered to use all legal means at their disposal to enforce the curfew and apprehend all offenders,’ said a statement from finance minister Patrick Boivert, the acting prime minister.
Gangs already were estimated to control up to 80 percent of the capital Port-au-Prince. They are increasingly coordinating their actions and choosing once unthinkable targets such as the Central Bank.
Prime Minister Ariel Henry travelled abroad last week to try to salvage support for a United Nations-backed security force to help stabilize Haiti in its conflict with the increasingly powerful crime groups.
Haiti’s National Police has roughly 9,000 officers to provide security for more than 11 million people, according to the UN. They are routinely overwhelmed and outgunned.
Riots broke out after gang leaders tried to oust Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry
At least nine people have died since Thursday in the violence
Gangs have coordinated attacks on key government infrastructure
The deadly weekend marked a new low in Haiti’s downwards spiral of violence. At least nine people had been killed since Thursday — four of them police officers — as gangs stepped up coordinated attacks on state institutions in Port-au-Prince, including the national football stadium.
But the attack on the National Penitentiary late Saturday shocked Haitians who are accustomed to living under the constant threat of violence.
Almost all of the estimated 4,000 inmates escaped. Three bodies with gunshot wounds lay at the prison entrance on Sunday.
A second Port-au-Prince prison containing around 1,400 inmates was also overrun.
Gunfire was reported in several neighborhoods in the capital. Internet service for many residents was down as Haiti’s top mobile network said a cable connection was slashed during the rampage.
After gangs opened fire at Haiti’s international airport last week, the US embassy said it was halting all official travel to the country. On Sunday night, it urged all American citizens to depart as soon as possible.
Families have been forced to move into camps with few or no belongings as a result of the violence
An estimated 15,000 people have been forced to flee their homes by the escalating violence
An inmate stands at the National Penitentiary in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Sunday
The Biden administration, which has refused to commit troops to any multinational force for Haiti while offering money and logistical support, said it was monitoring the rapidly deteriorating security situation with grave concern.
The surge in attacks follows violent protests that turned deadlier in recent days as the prime minister went to Kenya seeking to move ahead on the proposed UN-backed security mission to be led by that East African country.
The prime minister, a neurosurgeon, has shrugged off calls for him to resign and did not comment when asked if he felt it was safe to come home.