Gressier (Haiti), May 14, 2024 [AlterPresse] — (a number of) 4,463 people, or 1,026 families, were displaced, following the attack perpetrated on the night of Friday May 10 to Saturday May 11, 2024 by armed gangs in the town of Gressier (about thirty km south of Port-au-Prince), according to data provided by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), consulted by the online agency AlterPresse.
92% of these displaced people headed towards the municipalities of Léogane, Grand-Goâve, Gressier, Carrefour, located in the West, where the metropolitan area of the capital, Port-au-Prince is located, 4% towards Nippes (part of the South-West of Haiti) and 3% towards the South department, indicates the IOM.
Among them, 73% found refuge with host families, while 27% settled in 7 sites, including 4 new sites and 3 existing sites, she adds.
A public transport driver, commonly known as “Guillon”, who was not far from the police station in Gressier, was injured by two bullets around 10:00 p.m. local time (2:00 a.m. GMT on Saturday May 11, 2024), during the The armed attack perpetrated on the evening of Friday, May 10, 2024, reported the Association of Owners and Drivers of Haiti (Apch).
The injured driver was rushed to hospital to receive the treatment his condition required.
A vehicle, parked in the courtyard of the Gressier police station, was set on fire by the thugs, according to images circulating on social networks.
Many families were thus forced to leave the town of Gressier to seek refuge elsewhere.
This attack by armed gangs against the police station in Gressier brings to more than 25 the number of police stations destroyed since the beginning of 2024 by armed gangs in Haiti, denounced the Haitian National Police Union (Spnh17).
From January to December 2023, at least thirteen (13) police stations and/or
fixed and mobile patrols were attacked by armed banditsnoted a report from the National Network for the Defense of Human Rights (Rnddh) dated April 10, 2024.
On Sunday, May 12, 2024, the Haitian National Police (Pnh) announced that they had regained control of the police station in the commune of Gressierafter its storming by armed gangs, during an armed attack perpetrated on the evening of Friday May 10, 2024.
The bandits, who operate in various areas of Haiti, now have only one option, “lay down their weapons and surrender to justice”, warns the Presidential Transitional Council (Cpt)in a note made public on Monday May 13, 2024.
The Cpt expresses its indignation following this attack, perpetrated on May 10, 2024 by armed gangs against the police station in Gressier (about thirty km south of Port-au-Prince).
“This act demonstrates, once again, the absolute urgency of eradicating banditry across Haiti, of restoring security. Citizens can no longer wait. It is our responsibility, at the Presidential Transitional Council, to guarantee the security of the entire population,” recognizes the body, in this note signed by its president Edgard Leblanc Fils.
Since Thursday, February 29, 2024, armed gangs have intensified their attacks in the metropolitan area of the capital, Port-au-Prince, killing numerous people, looting and burning several public and private buildings.
Between Thursday April 25 and Sunday May 5, 2024, more than 5,000 people traveledfollowing several attacks by armed gangs in the town of Delmas, particularly in the Delmas 24 district and in Solino, according to data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
These internally displaced people headed towards the municipalities of Port-au-Prince, Delmas, Croix-Des-Bouquets and Tabarre (in the northeast), she adds.
Among them, 51% found refuge with host families, while 49% settled in ten sites, including six new sites and four existing sites, specifies the IOM.
In recent months, terror and other acts of violence by armed gangs have forced more than 95,000 people to leave their homes in the metropolitan area of the capital, Port-au-Prince, to seek refuge in other areas of the country. [emb rc apr 14/05/2024 12:25]
