Haiti orders nightly curfew trying to restore calm after a weekend of violence and prison break

By EVENS SANON and PIERRE-RICHARD LUXAMA
Associated Press

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti’s government has declared an emergency and a nighttime curfew in a bid to regain control of the streets after an explosion of violence over the weekend in which armed gang members stormed the country’s two biggest prisons. The 72-hour state of emergency went into immediate effect Sunday night as Haiti’s government said it would set out to find the killers, kidnappers and other violent criminals that it said escaped from the prison. At least nine people have been killed since Thursday as gangs step up coordinated attacks in the capital. The violence is taking place as Prime Minister Ariel Henry is abroad trying to salvage support for a United Nations-backed security force for Haiti.