More than 50,000 flee Haiti's gang-run capital
By Vanessa Buschschlüter
Tens of thousands of people have fled the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, to escape a surge in gang violence over the past weeks.
United Nations figures suggest more than 53,000 left between 8-27 March.
The UN is warning that the rural regions to which many have fled are not equipped to deal with such a large influx of displaced people.
Meanwhile, gangs are attacking businesses in the capital, torching pharmacies and vandalising schools.
Haiti’s national police succeeded in repelling an attack on the presidential palace on Monday but armed men stormed the nearby State University of Haiti hospital, known by its initials HUEH, to use it as their command centre.
HUEH had closed last month due to the violence and was meant to reopen on Monday.
The damage caused by the gangs is likely to further delay its reopening.
