Haitian police regain control of police station attacked by gangs in capital | Caribbean

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Officials have regained control of a police station in Haiti’s capital that had been targeted by armed gangs in recent months, authorities said Monday.

The station in Gressier on the western tip of Port-au-Prince was last attacked on Sunday, killing an unknown number of civilians, said Lionel Lazarre, spokesman for a police union. The armed groups burned down houses in the area and caused panic among the population, he said.

A bus driver was attacked while on the job and then shot by armed men, Lazarre added.

The attack came days after hundreds of Kenyan police arrived in Haiti to help liberate the country from the grip of armed criminal gangs.

Videos posted on social media showed armed men storming the police station and chanting slogans against the Haitian government and Kenyan police officers. They also showed a fire outside the station, which the gunmen largely destroyed.

A similar attack occurred in Gressier in May, when civilians and police officers demanded the dismissal and arrest of the police chief while heavily armed gangs took control of the same police station. The attack sparked widespread panic and left people homeless as the gangs rampaged through the community.

Since late February, gangs have raided and attacked more than two dozen police stations in Port-au-Prince as they launched coordinated attacks on critical government infrastructure.

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