Haiti on the brink of anarchy

Mob justice on Haiti's streets of blood as looter is lynched and police shoot rioters

By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 11:57 PM on 17th January 2010

The naked body of a hanged suspected looter is dragged through the devastated streets of Port-au-Prince.
Children watch as the corpse is battered with pieces of wood.
This is street justice Haiti style as the capital city of the earthquake-devastated country teeters on the brink of anarchy.
Alongside the desperate worldwide aid effort there are chaotic scenes in the blighted island as looters armed with knives and guns pillage stores.

Street justice: Lynched then dragged through the streets of Port-au-Prince, the looter's body is battered with staves

Foreign aid agencies say they can operate only with the protection of United Nations soldiers and are awaiting the arrival of thousands of U.S. troops.
While most of the capital's 3million people are focused on finding food and water, clearing debris and pulling bodies from the rubble, there are pockets of violence and reports of looting and ransacking of shops.
The lynching came after police brought a man to Petionville, a once wealthy area of the capital, and told a crowd he had been arrested for looting.

Vigilante justice took over and he was hanged before his body was dragged through the streets and set on fire under a heap of rubbish.
In another incident, police opened fire on hundreds of rioters yesterday, killing at least one of them as they ransacked a market.
A man in his 30s was shot in the head as he grabbed food. Witnesses said another looter quickly snatched the rucksack off the dead man's back as clashes continued and police reinforcements descended on the area armed with pump-action shotguns and assault rifles.

Daggers drawn: One looter demands another's booty

Gun guard: A policeman protects stores against looters in a business district of the capital

There have also been reports of attacks on aid workers attempting to distribute the hundreds of tons of supplies arriving in the city.

And heavily armed gang members who once ran Haiti's largest slum like warlords have returned with a vengeance since Tuesday's earthquake damaged the National Penitentiary, allowing 3,000 inmates to break out.

 

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An official with the World Food Programme said aid trucks were using armed guards and security had been posted at food distribution locations to protect staff. Some 10,000 U.S. troops are on the way to try to restore order.
Amid the death and destruction, survivors were still being found. One woman was plucked from the rubble of the university, 97 hours after being buried.

Tied up: A policeman restrains a looter suspected of stealing a tin of milk

At war: A policeman opens fire on the streets of Haiti. At least one rioter has been shot dead

British rescue workers from the Rapid UK team pulled another woman, aged 39, from the ruins of her home yesterday and members of Kent Fire and Rescue Service said they had reached a man after seven hours of tunnelling.
Other stories of hope also emerged with a man and teenage girl found alive under the collapsed remains of a grocery store.
A two-month-old baby who was brought to the UN hospital alive after four days was airlifted to Florida for emergency treatment.
The girl, named Jeanne, was found by a U.S. TV news reporter. Her mother, who feared her daughter had died, was also found alive and U.S. authorities are making plans for them to be reunited.

On the run: Looters grab what they can and flee during a police assault near the Hypolite Market in Port-au-Prince

Surrender: Looters keep the hands up after seeing the police

Despite these tiny pieces of good news, the overall picture is apocalyptic, with the death toll expected to reach 200,000. More than 30 rescue teams from around the world are now working in harsh conditions of heat and humidity in Haiti.
Many people with relatives in the city have been using Facebook and Twitter to seek information about loved ones.
Thousands of messages and photographs have been posted on the social networking sites.
Port-au-Prince's main hospital reopened yesterday but with few doctors and even fewer medical supplies. Despite the aid pouring into the city, tens of thousands of people are living in the streets without access to food and water.

The UN has described the disaster as being 'worse than the tsunami'.
Officials co-coordinating the UK relief efforts said water, food and hygiene supplies had been distributed to 2,000 people.

Anarchy: A man tries to keep crowds away from a woman injured during scuffles among people taking goods from quake-damaged stores

Desperation: Haitian people gather in the streets trying to get supplies

A British Red Cross convoy reached Haiti after an overland crossing from the neighbouring Dominican Republic with trucks loaded with medical supplies and equipment to help in search and rescue.
A spokesman for the Disaster Emergency Committee, made up of the UK's main relief aid charities, said a 300-bed field hospital was being set up over the weekend. The distribution of aid has been hampered by the small airport in Port-au-Prince becoming jammed with flights.
With the ships unable to dock in the port and many roads blocked by debris the airport has been the main lifeline for supplies.
The U.S. navy is using helicopters to drop supplies of bottled water and the UN also has distribution points handing out high-energy bars to the hungry. But demand is outstripping supply - with food and water being taken faster than they can pass it out.
UN Secretary General Ban Kimoon said the quake was the worst humanitarian crisis for decades.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Port-au-Prince to pledge continued and lasting support. 'As President Obama has said, we will be here today, tomorrow and for the time ahead,' she said standing beside President Rene Preval, whose palace was destroyed in Tuesday's 7.0-magnitude quake.
Despite the chaos President Preval has made no broadcast address to his nation, nor has he been seen at any disaster site.
Instead he has met Cabinet ministers and foreign visitors at a police station which serves as his base following the collapse of the National Palace.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1244034/Haiti-earthquake-disaster-Mob-justice-Haitis-streets-blood-looter-lynched-police-shoot-rioters.html#ixzz0cvayohZB