Police stations stormed in Haiti

A large group of masked police officers, members of a disgruntled sector of the Haitian police force who call themselves Fantom 509, stormed several police stations in Port-au-Prince on Wednesday.

The rogue group freed fellow officers that had been jailed, accused of participating in an alleged coup against embattled President Jovenel Moise last month.

The group, along with some civilians, set a police station ablaze and then headed to a local Nissan dealership that was also vandalised, setting cars on fire.

The day began with officers and cadets from the police academy marching towards police headquarters to demand that the bodies of five officers killed during a raid on the Village of God shantytown, which is run by a gang known as 5 Seconds, be recovered from the gang which still holds them.

The ill-fated raid took place five days ago when police attempted to arrest gang members who are in control of the shantytown, but were ambushed, resulting in the death of the officers and the wounding of several others.

But then other events began to unfold in the capital on Wednesday as members of the Fantom 509 took to the streets demanding the release of their arrested colleagues.

The Haitian capital is experiencing a crime wave that includes kidnappings for ransom, along with entire sections of Port-au- Prince being under the control of violent gangs.