Jose Ulysse, founder and director of the Fontaine Hospital Centre in the sprawling Cite Soleil slum in the capital of Port-au-Prince, confirmed the incident in a brief message exchange with The Associated Press. \u201cWe are in great difficulty,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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The Fontaine Hospital Centre in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>AP<\/cite><\/p>\n Ulysse said on social media that \u201chundreds\u201d of patients at the hospital were taken hostage, but the number could not immediately be confirmed. No further details were available, and it was not clear why the assailants may have taken patients hostage. Ulysse did not respond to further questions for comment.<\/p>\n A spokesman for Haiti\u2019s National Police did not immediately return a message for comment.<\/p>\n The hospital is considered an oasis and a lifeline in a community overrun by gangs that have unleashed increasingly violent attacks against each other, with civilians who live in Cite Soleil routinely raped, beaten or killed.<\/p>\n Ulysse identified those responsible as members of the Brooklyn gang, led by Gabriel Jean-Pierre, best known as \u201cTi Gabriel.\u201d Jean-Pierre also is the leader of a powerful gang alliance known as G-Pep, one of two rival coalitions in Haiti.<\/p>\n The Brooklyn gang has some 200 members and controls certain communities within Cite Soleil including Brooklyn. They are involved in extortion, hijacking of goods and general violence against civilians, according to a recent UN report.<\/p>\n \u201cThe G-Pep coalition and its allies strongly reinforced cooperation and diversified their revenues, in particular by committing kidnapping for ransom, which has enabled them to strengthen their fighting capacity,\u201d the report stated.<\/p>\n When The Associated Press visited the Fontaine Hospital Centre earlier this year, Ulysse said in an interview that gangs had targeted him personally twice before.<\/p>\n Gangs across Haiti have continued to grow more powerful since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Mo\u00efse, and the number of kidnappings and killings keep rising.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, at least 20 armed gang members burst into a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders and snatched a patient from an operating room. The criminals gained access after faking a life-threatening emergency, the organisation said.<\/p>\n