Gangs Attack Haiti Police Stations, Caribbean Leaders Call Emergency Meeting Monday

A police officer walks past a burnt out out police station set on fire by armed gangs, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, March 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Police and palace guards worked Saturday to retake some streets in Haiti’s capital after gangs launched massive attacks on at least three police stations.
Guards from the National Palace accompanied by an armored truck tried to set up a security perimeter around one of the three downtown stations after police fought off an attack by gangs late Friday.
Sporadic gunfire continued Saturday, and one woman writhed in pain on the sidewalk in downtown Port-au-Prince with a gunshot wound after a stray bullet hit her in the leg.
The unrelenting gang attacks have paralyzed the country for more than a week and left it with dwindling supplies of basic goods. Haitian officials extended a state of emergency and nightly curfew on Thursday as gangs continued to attack key state institutions.
Caribbean leaders issued a call late Friday for an emergency meeting Monday in Jamaica on what they called Haiti’s “dire” situation. They have invited the United States, France, Canada, the UN and Brazil to the meeting.
Members of the Caricom regional trade bloc have been trying for months to get political actors in Haiti to agree to form an umbrella transitional unity government.
But average Haitians, many of whom have been forced from their homes by the bloody street fighting, can't wait. The problem for police in securing government buildings is that many Haitians have streamed into them, seeking refuge.