Vigilante mob burn gang members alive in the streets of Haiti

Vigilante mob burn gang members alive in the streets of Haiti. (Read More Here).

The men were stoned and lit on fire with gasoline-soaked tires in the Canape Vert section of Port-au-Prince after they were pulled from police custody by the mob during a traffic stop.

Witnesses said the attack came as the purported gangsters were en route to back up their associates in a firefight with police.

Cops had pulled over a minibus and confiscated weapons from the suspects before they were “unfortunately lynched by members of the population,” the Haiti National Police said in a short statement that did not explain how the mob was able to circumvent law enforcement to conduct the brutal bloodshed.

Six more burned bodies were seen in a nearby neighbourhood later on in the day, and witnesses claimed to have seen police kill them before residents set them on fire. News agencies said this could not be verified.

Haiti’s National Police said in a brief statement that officers in the city’s Canape Vert section had stopped and searched a minibus for contraband.

The officers confiscated weapons from suspects before they were ‘unfortunately lynched by members of the population’, the officials said. The statement did not elaborate on how members of the crowd were able to take control of the suspects.

The horrific vigilante violence shows the level of public anger over the increasing lawlessness in Port-au-Prince.

Criminal gangs have taken control of an estimated 60 per cent of the city since the July 2021 assassination of president Jovenel Moïse.

A witness who gave his name as Edner Samuel told reporters that members of the crowd took the suspected gangsters away from police, beat them and stoned them before putting tyres on them, pouring gasoline on top and burning them.

An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw 13 bodies burning in the street. 

Two videos shared on social media appeared to show the moments before and after the tyres were set alight above the group of men.

The first video showed the suspected criminals lying on the floor with tyres piled on their backs. One man appeared to lift his head, but as he did so was hit by a stone.

Others were seen lying still face down, seemingly trying not to attract attention to themselves, while one man appears to be pleading with an armed officer.