Port-au-Prince, Nov 13 (EFE).- The humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF for its initials in French) denounced on Wednesday that days earlier one of its ambulances in Port-au-Prince had been attacked by Haitian police, who “executed” two patients being taken to the hospital.
The organization said that on Monday, Haitian police stopped one of its ambulances carrying three young people with gunshot wounds and attempted to arrest the patients, intimidating the health workers by firing shots in the air.
The ambulance was then forced to divert from entering the organization’s hospital, only 100 meters away, and was escorted by police to a public hospital.
“Law enforcement officers and of a self-defense group surrounded the ambulance, slashed the tires, and tear-gassed MSF personnel inside the vehicle to force them out. They then took the wounded patients a short distance away, outside the hospital grounds, where at least two of them were executed,” the organization said in a statement.
Police and gangs continued to clash Wednesday, bringing the streets of the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area to a standstill for another day.
Schools, businesses, private institutions, and public offices remained closed and residents of some neighborhoods targeted by gangs fled to areas less exposed to the armed groups that control at least 80% of the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area.
Amid the intense gunfire that could be heard in several parts of the city, some houses were set on fire.
In light of the prevailing violence, embassies and consular services, such as that of , remained closed to the public on Wednesday, while work at the US delegation was limited and appointments for visas and other services were canceled.
In addition, since Monday, several neighborhoods have been experiencing a shortage of drinking water, forcing people to walk to fetch it and wait in line at distribution points.
These developments come after the leader of the Vivre Ensemble (Living Together) gang coalition, ex-police officer Jimmy Cherizier, alias “Barbecue,” announced an escalation of violence on Sunday, urging the population not to leave their homes unless absolutely necessary.
On Monday, gangs shot at two commercial airplanes, injuring a flight attendant and forcing the closure of Toussaint Louverture International Airport, the country’s main airport, and the suspension of flights by several airlines.
On Tuesday, clashes between of the Vivre Ensemble gang coalition and Haitian National Police units, particularly in the Carrefour de l’Aéroport, forced residents to flee the area, and armed groups attacked a faculty of the Haitian State University, with students only able to escape when a National Police tank came to their rescue.
For Haiti’s new prime minister, Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, who was sworn in on Monday following the ouster of Garry Conille, security will be one of his biggest challenges in leading the government.
Between July and September alone, at least 1,223 people were killed and 522 injured as a result of violence and gang warfare, according to the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti. EFE
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