Gang in Haiti fires on crowd clearing neighbourhood of criminals

A huge group of parishioners headed by a pastor were attacked by a strong gang on Saturday as they marched through a neighbourhood brandishing machetes to clear the area of gang members.

According to Marie Yolène Gilles, director of the human rights organisation Fondasyon Je Klere, the attack was captured on real-time video by journalists who were present at the site and resulted in multiple fatalities and other injuries.

On the outskirts of Port-au-Prince’s capital, Canaan was established by survivors who lost their homes in the horrific 2010 earthquake, and she watched online as hundreds of people from the neighbourhood church marched through it.

The number of fatalities and injuries from the incident weren’t immediately known.

A gang alleged to be affiliated with the “5 Seconds” gang, headed by a man only known as “Jeff,” is in charge of Canaan.

Since President Jovenel Moise’s murder in July 2021, gangs have become more dominant, and they now control up to 80% of Port-au-Prince, according to estimates.

Director of Haiti’s Centre for Analysis and Research in Human Rights, Gédéon Jean, told the AP that he too followed the incident online and intended to request an investigation from the Ministry of Justice.

He charged that the pastor was negligent because he “engaged a group of people and put them in a situation like this.”

Assault rifle-wielding gang members were no match for the parishioners brandishing machetes and shouting, “Free Canaan!”

The police ought to have intervened, Jean argued. To allow something like this to occur is abhorrent on the part of the state.

An inquiry for comment was not answered by a National Police of Haiti spokeswoman.

According to the most recent United Nations figures, more than 2,400 people were reported murdered, more than 950 taken hostage, and another 902 were injured in Haiti between January 1 and August 15.

Haitians organised a violent movement in April called “bwa kale” that targets alleged gang members out of frustration with the rise in gang violence. The U.N. reports that since the rebellion started, more than 350 people have died.

The Haitian government asked for the rapid dispatch of a foreign armed force in October to stop gang violence.

A delegation of senior officials from Kenya, an eastern African nation, recently travelled to Haiti as part of a reconnaissance mission. Kenya’s government has offered to command a multinational army.

A U.N. Security Council resolution authorising Kenya to take such action was to be introduced, the U.S. announced earlier this month.