Downtown Saint-Marc has been under the grip of violent scenes since Saturday, May 3, 2026. Unidentified individuals, hooded and armed with sticks, machetes, and pickaxes, spontaneously took over National Road Number 1 and its cross streets, claiming to act “with the aim of forcing the commune to stand in solidarity with the locality of Jean-Denis,” a recent victim of repeated massacres perpetrated by the Gran Grif de Savien and Kokorat sans ras gangs.
Public services have been targeted, financial institutions have suffered serious attacks, educational establishments have received threats, and merchants at the public market were forced to return home. The city center is cluttered with burning tires, vehicle carcasses, and barricades made of tables and trestles.
Mobilized this Monday, May 4, 2026, by the Association of Victims of the Jean-Denis Massacres (AVMJ), the residents of Jean-Denis—who last Saturday attacked SOCOLAVIM, the Saint-Marc police station, the residence of Myriam Fièvre (president of the interim executive commission), and Brandy Hotel (where the district’s main police commissioner Lyvenson Gauthier was staying)—threw stones and bottles at the main buildings of the city’s economic enterprises, notably SOGEBANK. Political organizations from lower Artibonite, known for their stance in favor of the anti-gang struggle and their commitment to popular mobilization “against the silence of state authorities in the face of insecurity,” have published official notes of denunciation, distancing themselves from any violence in Saint-Marc.
Konbit pou sove ayiti (KONSA), Federasyon òganizasyon ba Latibonit (FEOBA), Mouvman pou sove Senmak (MOPOSS), Konbit ba Latibonit (KONBA), and the Organization of Engaged Citizens for a New Haiti (OCENH), considered close to the victims, have all rejected “the acts of violence that characterize the citizen movements of popular demands.”
“This movement of the Jean-Denis residents demands that central authorities act as quickly as possible to uproot the gangs in Artibonite. We ask parents to keep their children at home all this week. We were attacked by the police under Commissioner Gauthier’s orders. Protesters were killed and others were taken to the police station,” said the president of the AVMJ, announcing that “the coming days will be tragic, as the protesters are determined to face the police.”
Reached by telephone, the government commissioner of the Saint-Marc jurisdiction, Me Venson François, believes “that it is normal for protesters to express their frustrations within the limits of the law.” However, for him, “any violence must be repressed by the police authorities. The head of the Prosecutor’s Office estimates that those disturbing public peace are not citizens claiming anything. They are bandits.”
Authorized voices from Saint-Marc’s civil society were heard during the day of turbulence on Monday, May 4, 2026. They are trying to call the protesters to wisdom and asking government leaders to do something concrete.
