"Police made emergency calls for backup, asserting that 50% of the Artibonite region had fallen under gang control after the large-scale attacks targeting towns including Bercy and Pont-Sonde. The population cannot live, cannot work, cannot move, one of Haiti's police unions, SPNH-17, said Sunday on X."
"Losing the country's 2 largest departments West and Artibonite is the greatest security failure in modern Haitian history. The bulk of Haiti's police force and the Kenyan officers leading a UN-backed mission to help repel gangs are in the capital, Port-au-Prince, which itself is largely held by gangs. Guerby Simeus, a Pont-Sonde official, said on Monday that he had confirmed nearly a dozen deaths, including a mother and her child and a local government employee."
"Give me the guns! I'm going to fight the gangs! said Rene Charles, who survived the attack. We've got to stand up and fight! The crowd tried to break into the mayor's office with one unidentified man telling the Associated Press that they weren't going to rely on the government any longer: We're going to take justice into our own hands!"
Heavily armed gangs attacked towns across Haiti's central Artibonite region, killing men, women and children, burning homes and forcing survivors to flee into darkness. Police made emergency calls for backup and a police union reported that about 50% of Artibonite had fallen under gang control after attacks on towns including Bercy and Pont-Sonde. The bulk of the national police and Kenyan officers in a UN-backed mission are concentrated in Port-au-Prince, leaving few reinforcements for the region. Local officials confirmed nearly a dozen deaths and said gangs remain in Pont-Sonde. Hundreds of survivors fled to Saint-Marc, demanded government action and some urged armed self-defense.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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