The government imposed an emergency for 72 hours on Sunday, March 4, when a gang of armed prisoners rushed out of the Port-au-Prince prison, killing 12 people on their way out. The gang consisted of 3700 prisoners who managed to escape during the jailbreak.

The leaders of the gang presidential outbreak said that it was planned to force the Prime Minister of the state, Arial Henry, to resign from his post. 80% of Port-au-Prince is controlled by groups wanting the Prime Minister to resign. There have been thousands of killings in different gang wars in the country since 2020.

Two of the main prisons, one in the capital of the country and the other near it, i.e., in Croix des Bouquets, were broken down as per the reports given by the government. The prisoners that were detained in the Port-au-Prince prison included those involved in the murder of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021.

The violence in the prison started when the Prime Minister of Haiti travelled to Nairobi, asking for a multinational security force from Kenya. The Gang Leader, nicknamed barbecue, accepted the attack for the removal of the prime minister from his post. An ex-policeman who is thought to be one of the masterminds of the massacres that took place in Port-au-Prince said, “All of us, the armed groups in the provincial towns and the armed groups in the capital, are united.”

The police of the capital asked the military for help in the reinforcement of the main prison of the city, but according to a news agency, the doors of the prison in the capital were open, and no officer was present there even on Sunday.

According to a report, the dead bodies of three prisoners were seen in the courtyard who were trying to escape the prison. According to a journalist for a news agency, he saw around 10 bodies of prisoners in the courtyard, some with a few bullet injuries. A prison worker working there told the media that nearly 99 prisoners who had received their punishment for being involved in the murder of President Moïse chose not to leave their cells due to the fear of being murdered in the crossfire.

About Prime Minister Henry, Mr. Joseph said, “He agreed to step down on February 7. Now he decides to stay, despite the fact that there are huge protests throughout the country asking him to step down, but it’s unfortunate that now those criminals are using violent means to force him to step down.”