More than a dozen people have been lynched and burned alive in the streets of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, after a large number of citizens disrupted an arrest by the Haitian National Police against suspected gang members.
As reported by the Police, in statements reported by Alter Presse agency, the officers stopped a van in which the armed men were allegedly traveling, and were in the middle of the arrest when civilians gathered around them intervened and killed the alleged gang members.
The agency, citing witnesses to the incident, put the death toll at fourteen, although the authorities have not confirmed an exact figure. Witnesses also detailed that the civilians assaulted the deceased and doused them with gasoline before setting them on fire.
Port-au-Prince has experienced a spike in violence in recent months. The deputy spokesman for the UN secretary general, Farhan Haq, denounced Monday that violence «has reached alarming levels».
According to our humanitarian partners, between April 14 and 19, clashes between rival gangs have killed nearly 70 people, including 18 women and at least two minors, and 40 others have been injured,» he said.
The coordinator of Humanitarian Actions in Haiti for the UN, Ulrika Richardson, reiterated in a statement »the importance of ensuring humanitarian access, as well as protection and respect for health, education and critical infrastructure, including water supply».
The recent political and humanitarian crises in Haiti have left nearly five million people, half of the country’s population, in a situation of acute famine. A situation that has worsened as a result of the turf war between a coalition of gangs taking place in the region.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
