During Monday’s intervention by the police in Port-au-Prince, a lynching took place, as a result of which a mob beat and then set fire to a group of 13 men suspected of belonging to a gang. On the same day, in another district of the Haitian capital, six other members of an organized crime group were killed by the officers.
According to the accounts of witnesses to the event, the content of which is quoted by the Polish Press Agency, on Monday in the Canape Vert district, officers stopped one of the buses passing through the city for inspection, and then searched it. The men inside had their weapons confiscated. The subsequent course of events is not clear, but – according to the police – “the suspects were lynched by local residents.”
Thirteen men were burned alive in Port-au-Prince
The men were beaten and pelted with stones by the surrounding crowd. Tires doused in gasoline were thrown at them, which were then set on fire, PAP reports. All 13 alleged mobsters were killed on the spot. According to witnesses, their macabre lynching was watched by hundreds of people gathered around. The police did not explain how the residents managed to get the suspects out of the hands of the officers.
According to PAP, on the same day, in another district of the city, policemen shot six gangsters during an exchange of fire. Their bodies were also burned in the street. According to residents, shootings could be heard throughout the city that day. According to estimates UN Between 14 and 19 April alone, almost 70 people died in Port-au-Prince as a result of the activities of criminal groups. The BBC portal notes that since assassination of President Jovenel Moïse Haiti is increasingly lawless, with more than 60 percent of its capital now under gang control.
Main photo source: Guerinault Louis/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)