Haiti gangs try to take control of main AIRPORT and are 'massacring people ... trends now
Heavily armed gangs have tried to seize control of Haiti's main airport after 4,000 inmates escaped prison and started 'massacring people indiscriminately'.
Shocking videos have emerged of men and women fleeing in fear as shots ring out across the Toussaint Louverture International Airport.
It marks a further escalation in the raging violence that broke out when a top gang leader pushed to overthrow the prime minister with gangs storming public buildings and the National Penitentiary, freeing an estimated 4,000 inmates.
The ensuing chaos has forced more than 15,000 people to flee their homes, many of which have been destroyed, leaving them living in camps.
One of the men who remained in the prison after the mass break-out, Francisco Uribe, pleaded for help, saying: 'They are massacring people indiscriminately inside the cells.'
Shocking footage showed civilians fleeing gunfire while authorities clashed with armed gangs
Pedestrians walk past a soldier guarding the area of the international airport that is under attack in Port-au-Prince
Soldiers are guarding the international airport
The attacks on the airport mark a dramatic rise in gang violence in the country with groups exchanging gunfire with police and soldiers in the latest attack on key government sites.
The gangs' aim is to prevent Prime Minister Ariel Henry from returning to Haiti, from where he is thought to be abroad.
The gangs are led by Jimmy Cherizier, a former elite police officer known as Barbecue who now runs the gang federation. He has claimed responsibility for the surge in attacks.
He said their goal is to capture Haiti’s police chief and government ministers and prevent Henry’s return. Control of the airport is key in their plan.
The Toussaint Louverture International Airport was closed when the attack occurred, with no planes operating and no passengers on site.
Haitian newspaper, Le Nouvelliste reported that flights have been suspended for the past few days due to the violence.
Associated Press journalists saw an armored truck on the tarmac shooting at gangs to try to prevent them from entering airport grounds as scores of employees and other workers fled from whizzing bullets.
It is the biggest attack on the airport in Haiti’s history.
Last week, the airport was struck briefly by bullets amid ongoing gang attacks, but gangs did not enter the airport nor seize control of it.
The attack occurred just hours after authorities in Haiti ordered a night-time curfew following violence in which armed gang members overran the two biggest prisons and freed thousands of inmates over the weekend.
A 72-hour state of emergency began on Sunday night.
