A neighborhood of the Haitian capital has been hit by deadly gang attacks since Sunday, which escalated on Thursday, witnesses told AFP, amid protests against insecurity in the Caribbean nation.

Early yesterday, bursts of machine gun fire could be heard in the Solino district, in the southern part of Port-au-Pres, where plumes of smoke were visible rising into the sky, an AFP correspondent found.

Gang members operating in Bel-Air, a neighboring district, have been launching successive attacks since Sunday, a resident explained.

Eyewitnesses confirmed that these attacks had the effect of killing people, without being able to determine their number.

Pierre Esperance, executive director of the National Network for the Defense of Human Rights, estimated that at least twenty people have been killed in the attacks by thugs since Sunday.

“Among the victims are people who were murdered in their homes, who were set on fire, and others who were targeted by thugs because they were simply trying to flee to escape their attacks,” he underlined.

Nearby neighborhoods such as Carrefour Payne and Delma 24 also suffered gang attacks.

To protect themselves, residents set up barricades in various areas of the capital and its suburbs.

At the same time, there were anti-government protests across the country called by Guy Philippe, a former police chief and politician, who is returning to the country after serving a US prison sentence for drug money laundering.

Hundreds of people have taken part in demonstrations since the beginning of the week in Jérémy, Miragoan and Ouanamid, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henri, in power since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise.

The protesters denounced his inaction, as the country is ravaged by a deep, multidimensional crisis, economic, security, political, which is exacerbated by the spread of gangs. Last year, the UN estimated that criminal organizations controlled about 80% of the capital.

To address the security and humanitarian crisis, the UN Security Council in October gave the green light to deploy a Kenyan-led multinational armed force to Haiti to assist the Haitian police. However, the timetable for its development remains unclear.