GANGS in Haiti laid siege to neighbourhoods in Port-au-Prince, burning homes and exchanging gunfire with police as hundreds fled early on Thursday, in one of the biggest attacks since Haiti’s new prime minister was announced.

The attacks began late Wednesday in neighbourhoods including Solino and Delmas, located south-west of the main international airport, which has remained closed for nearly two months amid relentless gang violence.

“The gangs started burning everything in sight,” said a man called Nene, who was afraid to give his name. “I was hiding in a corner all night.”

He walked with a friend as they carried a dusty red suitcase between them that was stuffed with clothes belonging to Nene’s children – the only thing they could save. 

Neighbourhoods that once bustled with traffic and pedestrians were like ghost towns shortly after sunrise, with a heavy silence blanketing the area.

People whose homes were spared in the attack in Delmas and other nearby communities clutched fans, stoves, mattresses and plastic bags filled with clothes as they fled by foot, motorcycle or on small buses, known as tap-taps. 

Others were walking empty-handed, having lost everything.

“There were gunshots left and right,” said Paul Pierre, who was walking with his partner in search of shelter after their house was burned down. 

They couldn’t save any of their belongings.

He said the overnight fighting separated children from their parents and husbands from their wives as people fled in terror: “Everyone is just trying to save themselves.”

Martineda, a woman who also feared to give her surname, said she was left homeless after armed gunmen torched her home. 

She fled with her four-year-old, who she said had tried to run away when the gunfire erupted late Wednesday.

Martineda said: “I told him, ‘Don’t be scared. This is life in Haiti’.”

The level of violence eventually forced prime minister Ariel Henry to resign and led to the creation of a transitional presidential council, which unexpectedly announced a new prime minister on Tuesday – former sports minister Fritz Belizaire. 

The majority decision is already threatening to fracture the nine-member council, which was sworn in last week.

As new leaders take charge, Haitians are demanding that they prioritise public safety as gangs remain more powerful and better armed than the police.

More than 2,500 people have been killed or injured from January to March of this year.