The director of Haiti’s National Police vowed Monday to hold accountable those who encouraged hundreds of parishioners to take up machetes and sticks over the weekend to try and rid a community of gang members, only to be fatally shot by them.
Police Chief Frantz Elbé said the group’s religious leader, identified as Marcorel Zidor, participated in the protest Saturday and was accompanied by unidentified people clad in olive green carrying assault rifles as they and the parishioners marched toward the community of Canaan.
Elbé said the group drew gunfire from gang members, and that “multiple” people were killed and several kidnapped, though he did not provide numbers.
