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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — A powerful gang opened fire Saturday at a large group of worshipers led by a pastor as they marched through a community armed with machetes to rid the area of gang members.
The attack was filmed in real time by journalists at the scene, and several people were killed and others injured, Marie Yolène Gilles, director of the human rights group Fondasyon Je Klere, told The Associated Press.
He watched online as hundreds of people from a local church marched through Canaan, a makeshift town on the outskirts of the capital Port-au-Prince founded by survivors who lost their homes in the devastating 2010 earthquake.
It was not immediately clear how many people were killed and injured in the attack.
Canaan is controlled by a gang led by a man identified only as “Jeff”, who is believed to be in league with the “5 Seconds” gang.
The gangs have grown more powerful since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021, and are estimated to control up to 80% of Port-au-Prince.
Gédéon Jean, director of Haiti’s Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights, told the AP that he also watched the event unfold online and planned to ask the Justice Ministry to investigate.
He accused the pastor of being irresponsible because he “engaged a group of people and put them in a situation like this.”
Machete-wielding congregants chanting “Free Canaan!” they were no match for gang members armed with assault rifles.
“The police should have stopped them from going,” Jean said. “It is extremely horrible that the state would allow something like this to happen.”
A spokesman for the Haitian National Police did not return a message for comment.
From January 1 to August 15, more than 2,400 people in Haiti were reported dead, more than 950 kidnapped and another 902 injured, according to the most recent United Nations statistics.
Fed up with increased gang violence, Haitians organized a violent movement in April known as “bwa kale” that targets suspected gang members. More than 350 people have been killed since the uprising began, according to the UN
In October, the Haitian government requested the immediate deployment of a foreign armed force to quell gang violence.
The Kenyan government has offered to lead a multinational force, and a delegation of senior officials from the East African country recently visited Haiti as part of a reconnaissance mission.
The United States said earlier this month that it would submit a UN Security Council resolution authorizing Kenya to take such action.
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Associated Press writer Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed.
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