Thirteen people have been lynched and set on fire in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. According to the police, these are gang members, several international news agencies reported Tuesday morning. Images circulating on social media show the bodies burning between piles of smoking tires and flanked by an angry mob. The car tires were first doused with petrol and then set ablaze.
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It is unclear why the police did not intervene. Just before the lynching, officers did stop a van with armed men, after which their phones, ammunition and weapons were confiscated. It is presumed that civilians then reacted aggressively themselves and killed the men from the van with machetes, stones and bare hands. Then they would have set the bodies on fire. Several bystanders reacted with dismay.
There has been a lot of unrest in Port-au-Prince in recent months due to violence between police and gang members. Hundreds have died and thousands of residents have been left homeless. The Haitian gangs have felt strengthened in their power for two years after the then president Jovenel Moïse was shot dead at home. After an interim period under Claude Joseph, Ariel Henry became the president of the Caribbean country in July 2021.