The National Palace of Haiti is being attacked this Monday by armed men and several employees are trapped, leaving at least five police officers injured, one of them seriously.
At this time, intense shootings continue in the area and harsh clashes in the main public square of Port-au-Prince, Champs de Mars, very close to the National Palace, between gang members and the Police.
The members of the armed gangs, belonging to the Live Together coalition, led by the powerful Jimmy Cherizier, alias Barbecue, managed to set fire to an armored vehicle of the National Police in the vicinity of the National Palace.
The armed gangs, who control about 90% of Port-au-Prince, had recently promised to take over the Palace. In March, the gangs already tried to storm the building, although without success.
This situation occurs after a few days of less violence by the gangs, a tense calm broken this local morning, when the clashes and shootings between the gangs and the Police returned with more force to the streets of the capital.
Today Champs de Mars was already the scene of shootings, forcing people to run in all directions to escape the gunfire, in addition to paralyzing activities in the area. Also in the Pétion-Ville sector, in the hills of Port-au-Prince, four bodies were found, apparently riddled with gunshots.
This is a new increase in tension, within the escalation of violence that Haiti has been experiencing since the end of February with attacks by gangs on institutions, companies, private properties and prisons, with the consequent escape of some 3,600 prisoners, many of They are members and leaders of armed groups.
Meanwhile, Haiti is awaiting the implementation of the Transitional Presidential Council, which must elect a prime minister and prepare the way for holding presidential elections.
When this institution is in place, the Haitian Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, who is outside the country, will leave power, as he himself announced in the early hours of March 12.
