A state of emergency was declared in the western part of Haiti yesterday Sunday 3/3, following a mass prisoner escape, as the leader of the gang alliance Jimmy Serizier, or “Barbecue”, a former policeman, has escalated the attempt to overthrow the Prime Minister Ariel Henri.
The government has announced a 72-hour night curfew (with the prospect of renewal) from “18:00 to 05:00” until Wednesday, March 6. Excludes law enforcement, firefighters, ambulance crews and credentialed journalists.
The measure follows the dramatic escalation of violence over the past 24 hours, with the capital paralysed, communications cut and two mass prison escapes. including nearly everyone incarcerated in the nation’s largest prison.
He announced the escape with videos on social networking sites the leader of the gang alliance Jimmy Serizier, or “Barbecue”, an ex-cop; which is sanctioned by the UN and the US.
Attempts to overthrow the prime minister
At least ten people were killed during the mass escape of thousands of inmates at the Pénitencier National, Haiti’s largest prison, in the capital Port-au-Prince early Sunday, according to an AFP reporter.
“We counted many bodies of prisoners,” Pierre Esperance, executive director of the National Network for the Defense of Human Rights (Réseau national de défense des droits humains, RNDDH), told the agency, explaining that only about a hundred prisoners remained in the prison on Sunday, out of some 3,800 who were incarcerated there before the raid by heavily armed thugs.
Police “attempted to repel an attack by criminal gangs against the Pénitencier National and Croix des Bouquets (prison),” Prime Minister Henri’s government said in a statement earlier. “This attack on the detention centers caused many injuries among the prisoners and the staff of the prison administration,” he added.
The government denounced the raids by “heavily armed criminals who wanted at all costs to free prisoners, mainly for kidnapping, murder and other serious crimes” and “did not hesitate to execute citizens, set fire to and loot private and public property”.
About 1,450 people were incarcerated in the Croix de Bucc prison before the attack
Gangs attack strategic locations as part of action to overthrow Prime Minister Henri. In power from 2021, Mr Henri would theoretically cede power on February 7 under a deal struck in December 2022. But he has announced he will stay in power, arguing that security must be restored so that free and fair elections can take place. fair elections.
Source: APE-MPE, Reuters, AFP
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