‘It’s hell’: vigilantes take to Haiti’s streets in bloody reprisals against gangs

Members of terrorised Port-au-Prince communities armed with rocks and machetes carry out wave of lynchings

• Explainer: How did Haiti’s crisis get so bad?

As Vélina Élysée Charlier ventured on to the streets of her conflict-stricken city last week, she encountered scenes that will haunt her for many years to come.

Armed civilians dragging bodies through the streets. Smouldering corpses. Young men with machetes chasing suspected gangsters they planned to kill.