{"id":27313,"date":"2024-03-04T05:54:07","date_gmt":"2024-03-04T10:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=27313"},"modified":"2024-03-04T05:54:07","modified_gmt":"2024-03-04T10:54:07","slug":"state-of-emergency-declared-in-haiti-after-mass-jailbreak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2024\/03\/04\/state-of-emergency-declared-in-haiti-after-mass-jailbreak\/","title":{"rendered":"State of emergency declared in Haiti after mass jailbreak"},"content":{"rendered":"

A state of emergency has been declared in Haiti after violence in the capital led to two prison breaks as a major gang leader tries to oust the prime minister.<\/p>\n

The government decree follows a dramatic escalation in clashes over the weekend, which paralysed parts of Port-au-Prince and temporarily downed communications.<\/p>\n

Heavy gunfire has caused panic in recent days after calls by gang leader Jimmy Cherizier, a former police officer, for criminal groups to unite and overthrow Ariel Henry.<\/p>\n

In a bid to restore order, a curfew will apply from 6pm to 5am each day until Wednesday, which may be extended for another 72 hours.<\/p>\n

Armed groups attacked the\u00a0country’s<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0largest prison on Saturday night, defying police forces who had called for help.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, there was no sign of police officers at the National Penitentiary and the main prison doors remained open.<\/p>\n

“I’m the only one left in my cell,” one unidentified inmate told Reuters news agency. “We were asleep when we heard the sound of bullets. The cell barriers are broken.”<\/p>\n

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\"The<\/div>
The National Penitentiary following violent clashes on Sunday. (Image: Reuters)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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A man calls for protesters to stop on Friday. (Image: Reuters)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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It is unclear how many inmates are on the run, but sources close to the institution say it is likely to be an “overwhelming” majority.<\/p>\n

The prison was built to keep 700 prisoners, but held 3,687 as of February last year, according to rights group RNDDH.<\/p>\n

One voluntary prison worker on Sunday said 99 prisoners had chosen to stay in their cells for fear of being killed in the crossfire.<\/p>\n

The bodies of three inmates who had tried to flee\u00a0lay dead in the prison courtyard on Sunday<\/a><\/strong>, while two bodies with their hands tied behind the backs lay face down in another neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

Among those still in the prison are 18 former Colombian soldiers who were jailed for their alleged involvement in the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, Mr Henry’s predecessor.<\/p>\n

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\"Colombian<\/div>
Colombian inmates open a gate inside the prison. (Image: AP)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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\"A<\/div>
A police officer takes aim amid clashes. (Image: AP)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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“Please, please help us,” one of the men, Francisco Uribe, said in the message widely shared on social media. “They are massacring people indiscriminately inside the cells.”<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Mr Uribe told journalists who walked into the normally highly guarded facility: “I didn’t flee because I’m innocent.”<\/p>\n

Mr Cherizier had warned locals earlier this week to keep children from going to school to “avoid collateral damages” as violence surged while the prime minister sought support abroad.<\/p>\n

Nearly 15,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in recent days, according to the UN International Organisation for Migration.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Henry, who came to power in 2021 after Mr Moise’s assassination, had previously pledged to step down by early February.<\/p>\n

He later said security must first be re-established in order to ensure free and fair elections.<\/p>\n

Source: \u00a0\"Sky<\/a> news.sky.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A state of emergency has been declared in Haiti after violence in the capital led to two prison breaks as a major gang leader tries to oust the prime minister. The government decree follows a […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[109,2,6],"tags":[10210,2130,10211,7890],"class_list":{"0":"post-27313","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headline","8":"category-news","9":"category-world","10":"tag-croix-des-bouquets","11":"tag-haiti","12":"tag-haiti-national-penitentiary","13":"tag-port-au-prince","14":"pmpro-has-access"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27313"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27316,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27313\/revisions\/27316"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}