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NEWS ARTICLE:
Haiti gangs try to take control of main AIRPORT and are 'massacring people indiscriminately'
Heavily armed gangs exchanged gunfire with police at Toussaint Louverture International Airport
The gangs, led by Jimmy Cherizier, a former elite police officer known as Barbecue are trying to gain control of the airport
Terrified civilians were seen fleeing after 4,000 inmates escaped prison when gang members attacked the National Penitentiary.
Heavily armed gangs have tried to seize control of Haiti's main airport after 4,000 inmates escaped prison and started 'massacring people indiscriminately'.
Shocking videos have emerged of men and women fleeing in fear as shots ring out across the Toussaint Louverture International Airport.
It marks a further escalation in the raging violence that broke out when a top gang leader pushed to overthrow the prime minister, with gangs storming public buildings and the National Penitentiary, freeing an estimated 4,000 inmates.
The ensuing chaos has forced more than 15,000 people to flee their homes, many of which have been destroyed, leaving them living in camps.
One of the men who remained in the prison after the mass break-out, Francisco Uribe, pleaded for help, saying: 'They are massacring people indiscriminately inside the cells.'
The attacks on the airport mark a dramatic rise in gang violence in the country with groups exchanging gunfire with police and soldiers in the latest attack on key government sites.
The gangs' aim is to prevent Prime Minister Ariel Henry from returning to Haiti, from where he is thought to be abroad.
The gangs are led by Jimmy Cherizier, a former elite police officer known as Barbecue who now runs the gang federation. He has claimed responsibility for the surge in attacks.
He said their goal is to capture Haiti’s police chief and government ministers and prevent Henry’s return. Control of the airport is key in their plan.
The Toussaint Louverture International Airport was closed when the attack occurred, with no planes operating and no passengers on site.
Haitian newspaper, Le Nouvelliste reported that flights have been suspended for the past few days due to the violence.
Associated Press journalists saw an armored truck on the tarmac shooting at gangs to try to prevent them from entering airport grounds as scores of employees and other workers fled from whizzing bullets.
It is the biggest attack on the airport in Haiti’s history.
Last week, the airport was struck briefly by bullets amid ongoing gang attacks, but gangs did not enter the airport nor seize control of it.
The attack occurred just hours after authorities in Haiti ordered a night-time curfew following violence in which armed gang members overran the two biggest prisons and freed thousands of inmates over the weekend.
The government said it would try to track down the escaped inmates, including from a penitentiary were the vast majority were in pre-trial detention, with some accused of killings, kidnappings and other crimes.
'The police were ordered to use all legal means at their disposal to enforce the curfew and apprehend all offenders,' said a statement from finance minister Patrick Boivert, the acting prime minister.
Gangs already were estimated to control up to 80 percent of the capital Port-au-Prince. They are increasingly coordinating their actions and choosing once unthinkable targets such as the Central Bank.
Prime Minister Ariel Henry travelled abroad last week to try to salvage support for a United Nations-backed security force to help stabilize Haiti in its conflict with the increasingly powerful crime groups.
Haiti’s National Police has roughly 9,000 officers to provide security for more than 11 million people, according to the UN. They are routinely overwhelmed and outgunned.
