State of emergency declared in Haiti after mass jailbreak
A 72-hour state of emergency – and a night curfew – have been declared in and around the Haiti capital after two mass jailbreaks.
Armed gangs stormed a major Port-au-Prince prison, killing 12 and releasing around 4,000 inmates.
Gang leaders say they want to force Prime Minister Ariel Henry to resign. The groups who want him to quit control around 80% of Port-au-Prince.
A government statement said two prisons – one in the capital and the other in nearby Croix des Bouquets – were stormed over the weekend.
The violence broke out last week when the prime minister travelled to Nairobi to discuss sending a Kenyan-led multinational security force to Haiti.
Gang leader Jimmy Chérizier declared a coordinated attack to remove him.
“All of us, the armed groups in the provincial towns and the armed groups in the capital, are united,” said the former police officer, who is thought to be behind several massacres in Port-au-Prince.
Haiti’s police union had asked the military to help reinforce the capital’s main prison, but the compound was stormed late on Saturday.
On Sunday the doors of the prison were still open and there were no signs of officers, Reuters news agency reported. Three inmates who tried to flee lay dead in the courtyard, the report said.