After the kidnapping of all the passengers of 2 minbuses at the end of the morning https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-36882-haiti-flash-the-izo-gang-kidnaps-38-passengers-and-the-drivers-of-2-minibuses-video.html men of the "5 second" gang of Village de Dieu stormed the Court of First Instance (TPI) of Port-au-Prince at the Bicentenaire.

Intense automatic weapon fire was heard in the afternoon for more than an hour between the bandits and the police forces, sowing panic... Everyone was running in all directions breathlessly, some abandoning their vehicle too exposed to save their lives.

Registrars, lawyers, judges and staff who were still in the TPI were unable to leave the premises without risking falling under the bullets...

Thanks to the intervention of the security forces supported by two police armored vehicles, all the people were finally able to be evacuated from the courthouse. A prosecutor was reportedly shot in the leg, but no deaths were reported.

Friday evening the Minister of Justice Berto Dorcé confirmed that the police had regained control of the court and the area with armored vehicles declaring the members of the Village-de-Dieu gang "[...] fired on the court but did not could not enter" a declaration that contradicts Me Ainé Martin President of the Association of Clerks, who affirms that "The clerks and the lawyers among others were taken hostage and that the bandits vandalized and looted the TPI."

For his part Me Jacques Lafontant, the Government Commissioner of Port-au-Prince told the media that at least 6 vehicles of the security forces and 4 others belonging to Government Commissioners were now in the hands of the gang.

S/ HaitiLibre