CALLS for the dismissal and arrest of Haiti’s police chief grew today as heavily armed gangs launched a new attack in the capital of Port-au-Prince.

The latest attack saw gangs seizing control of yet another police station early on Saturday.

Armed men raided the coastal community of Gressier in the western tip of Port-au-Prince late on Friday, injuring people, burning cars and attacking homes and other infrastructure as scores of people fled into the nearby mountains following a barrage of gunfire overnight.

No deaths were immediately reported.

Videos posted on social media showed people fleeing into the early dawn balancing bags and suitcases on their heads as men clad in sandals and carrying heavy weapons celebrated with gunfire.

“The town is ours,” said one man who filmed himself with others who were armed, noting they were in Gressier. “We have no limits.”

The attack comes around a week after gang attacks in central Port-au-Prince forced more than 3,700 people to flee their homes.

Garry Jean-Baptiste, a spokesman for the SPNH-17 police union, said: “The situation is critical and catastrophic.”

He said Frantz Elbe, director of Haiti’s National Police, has failed and was incompetent.

Mr Jean-Baptiste said the union wanted a newly installed transitional presidential council to demand Mr Elbe’s resignation and order justice officials to launch an investigation into the crisis.

“Police continue to lose their premises and equipment and officers,” he said, adding that at least 30 police stations and substations have been attacked and burned in recent months.

He also accused Mr Elbe and other high-ranking officials of being complicit with gangs.

Mr Elbe did not immediately comment on the tirade.

Mr Jean-Baptiste said the officer who was stationed in Gressier “resisted for a while” but was unable to stave off the gang attack given a lack of staff and resources.

“The police could not prevent the worst,” he said.

Those fleeing Gressier now join more than 360,000 other Haitians forced to abandon their homes as gangs raze communities in rival territories to control more land.

A United States-backed deployment of Kenyan police officers to Haiti to help tackle the gangs has been repeatedly delayed, although some believe the first officers might arrive in late May.

But scores of US military planes have already arrived at the closed Port-au-Prince airport in recent weeks, carrying civilian contractors, building materials and heavy equipment ahead of the anticipated arrival of a multinational mission.