Anarchy in Haiti as state of emergency extended

Haiti’s government has said it will extend a state of emergency and nighttime curfew to try to curb violent gang attacks that have paralysed the capital, Port-au-Prince, in a fierce battle for political power.

An initial three-day curfew was announced over the weekend, but gangs have continued to attack police stations and other state institutions at night as the national police struggle to contain the violence with limited staff and resources.

The attacks began a week ago, shortly after embattled Prime Minister Ariel Henry agreed to hold general elections in mid-2025 while attending a meeting of Caribbean leaders in Guyana. Gangs have set police stations on fire, shot up the main international airport, which remains closed, and raided Haiti’s two biggest prisons, freeing more than 4,000 inmates.

During that time, Henry had travelled to Kenya to push for the deployment of a United Nations-backed police force from the East African country to help battle the gangs in his country. But a court in January ruled that the deployment was unconstitutional, and it remained unclear if the force would deploy given the worsening violence in Haiti.

Henry is currently in Puerto Rico, where he was forced to land on Tuesday after armed groups laid siege to the international airport, preventing him from returning.