Dozens of armed police officers attacked the private residence of the prime minister of HaitiAriel Henry, in the framework of a protest movement against the government’s indifference to the death at the hands of armed groups of more than a dozen agents this month.
During the attack on Henry’s residence, located in the Delmas 60 sector, in Port-au-Prince, material damage was recorded and loud shots were heard, while several vehicles had their windows broken, according to local media reports.
Henry, who returned this Thursday from Argentina, where he participated on Tuesday in the Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), found that Haitian police officers forced their way into the country’s main airport, and apparently could not leave the terminal.
Later, the haiti gazette reported that “Ariel Henry returned home accompanied by a strong police escort who had to fire bursts to clear the space.”
The Haitian National Police and the Prime Minister’s Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The tension in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince and its surroundings was maximum.
Constant shots were fired a few hours after seven police officers were killed by armed groups in Savien, in the Haitian department of Artibonite, bringing to ten the number of officers killed violently in two weeks.
Given the tense situation, some schools sent their students home and the population tended to leave the streets of the capital, where the police presence had been scarce in recent days.
In 2022, at least 55 agents were killed in the country, in a context marked by the deterioration of the security climate and dominated by armed attacks, the multiplication of kidnappings, robberies and rapes.
Immersed for years in a sociopolitical and economic crisis, Haiti saw its situation worsen even more after the assassination in July 2021 of the then President Jovenel Moise.
For its part, the National Network in Defense of Human Rights (Rnddh) denounced that, since Prime Minister Ariel Henry took office, 78 police officers have been assassinated, and the wave of crimes continues today.
The organization led by Pierre Espérance deplored that the figure represents an average of more than four officers executed per month, and blamed Henry and Police Chief Frantz Elbé for the phenomenon.
With information from Efe, Reuters, Prensa Latina and Ap.
