At least a dozen alleged criminals were beaten to death and set afire in broad daylight on the streets of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, adding to the country's spiral into a humanitarian catastrophe and violence.

Suspects were made to lie on the tarmac by police with rifles, according to horrifying video of the incident, before onlookers stacked tires on top of them, doused them in gasoline, and lit them ablaze.

One witness told the Associated Press that the victims were taken from the police after they were held in the Canapé-Vert neighborhood of Port-au-Prince by a lynch mob, who then battered and stoned them before setting their bodies on fire.

AP's reporter spotted 13 burning bodies at the scene, as hundreds of people gathered to see the terrifying incident.

Haiti's national police said in a statement published on Facebook that its officers had stopped a group of alleged smugglers traveling in a minibus, but that more than 12 of those individuals were "unfortunately lynched by members of the population" after that. The firearms and AK47 magazines police claimed to have taken from the victims were shown in an accompanying video.

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Population 'feels under siege'

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The lynching occurred as the already terrible social, political, and humanitarian crisis in Haiti - which the UN security council is scheduled to examine on Tuesday - worsened.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, gang fights in Port-au-Prince's largest shantytown, Cité Soleil, claimed the lives of close to 70 individuals in just six days, between April 14 and April 19. Of the deaths, about 40 were shot or stabbed. Two of them were minors at least.

Ulrika Richardson, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in Haiti stated that the population "feels under siege. They can no longer leave their homes for fear of gun violence and gang terror,” 

That warning was issued a month after the UN requested the sending of an international "specialized support force" to Haiti following the deaths of more than 530 people in the first few weeks of this year, which forced the closure of several clinics and schools. The UN human rights office recorded 531 homicides, 300 injuries, and 277 kidnappings in gang-related crimes between January and March, the majority of which occurred in Haiti's gang-dominated capital.

Haiti's present problem worsened in 2021 after Jovenel Mose, the president of Haiti, was shot and killed in his home in Port-au-Prince. Since then, politically influential gangs have taken control of more than 60% of the capital, parts of the resource-starved police force have openly revolted, and internal politics in Haiti have devolved into a bloody stalemate.

Since Mose's assassination, former prime minister Ariel Henry has been in charge of the nation, which as of January has no democratically elected representatives, and it is not yet known when a new presidential election will be held. The last one occurred in November 2016, about seven years ago.

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Experienced British diplomat Jonathan Powell, who was instrumental in facilitating the Northern Ireland peace negotiations that resulted in the 1998 Good Friday deal, was said to be taking part in efforts to end the political impasse, according to a story in Haiti's Le Nouvelliste daily last month.

Jake Johnston, the author of the upcoming book Aid State on Haiti, said it was unclear what role Powell was playing but that there was little hope for a quick fix. 

In addition, Johnston noted that the government had mostly retreated and abdicated its responsibility. "You have this sort of paralysis that has overtaken everything," he continued. "So, things are getting worse."