It's Barbecue Time

In what might be a quite literal "eat the rich" moment, gangs in Haiti "gangs smashed down doors in the once prosperous neighborhoods of Pétion-Ville, Meyotte, Diègue and Métivier." And in a nod to why gun rights are so important, one resident said: "'If the neighborhood had mobilized, we could have destroyed them, but they were heavily armed, and there was nothing we could do,' said Pétion-Ville resident Samuel Orelus."

    'They were about 30 men with heavy weapons.

    'When I woke up to go to work, I found I could not leave because the neighborhood was in the hand of the bandits.'

    The neighborhood is home to around a dozen foreign embassies and upmarket hotels which have been targeted by notorious gang leader Jimmy 'Barbecue' Cherizier.

    Thousands of residents have banded together in self-defense organizations known as the Bwa Kale movement in a bid to keep the gangs at bay, but they have also been accused of carrying out summary executions.

    Fifteen people were reported dead in the neighborhood on Wednesday and a Reuters reporter saw two suspected gang members killed, dismembered and set on fire before being dragged through the street.

And in an example that self-help is often the best help, the Daily Mail also reports: "Vigilantes set gang members on fire, drag them through the streets and hack off victim's hands as violence continues to spiral out of control in Haiti."

    Bodies were seen littering the streets in a series of shocking images this week, with journalists reporting they saw two suspected gang members, including a leader known as Makandal, killed and set on fire. 

    Other footage showed corpses dragged and left to rot in the street by furious vigilante movements, with one man having had his hands cut off. 

    The Caribbean island nation has long been wracked by gang violence, but this has spiralled out of control in recent days amid the absence of the state, while enraged citizens seek to hunt down gang members in an outburst of vigilante justice.

    Armed groups launched new attacks in the suburbs of Port-au-Prince early Wednesday, with heavy gunfire echoing across once-peaceful communities near the Haitian capital. 

    But several suspected gang members were killed during an attack on the Petion-Ville neighbourhood on the southern outskirts of the city by desperate locals seeking to protect their families and livelihoods.

    Almost a year ago, a group of Port-au-Prince residents lynched and set fire to around a dozen men believed to be gang members launching what became known as the Bwa Kale movement, a vigilante justice organisation.

    Rights groups say such movements have been bolstered by members of Haiti's woefully under-resourced and underpowered police force who lost faith in the government's ability to crack down on gangs. 

    Earlier on Wednesday, Le Nouvelliste reported at least 15 people had been killed in attacks around Petion-Ville, home to several upscale hotels as well as around a dozen embassies.

    Residents there barricaded themselves inside their homes while armed men carried out fresh attacks east of the city with the violence forcing banks, schools and businesses to close.