The attacks, which began late Wednesday, left four police officers dead and five others injured as a prominent gang leader said a coordinated attack by armed groups was underway to oust Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

Gunmen have launched a series of fresh attacks in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, burning homes and exchanging gunfire with police for hours as hundreds fled the violence early Thursday in one of the biggest outbreaks of violence since Haiti’s new prime minister was announced.

The attacks, which left four police officers dead, began late Wednesday in neighbourhoods including Solino and Delmas 18, 20, and 24, located southwest of the main international airport, which has remained closed for nearly two months amid relentless gang violence.

“The gangs started burning everything in sight,” a man called Néne, who declined to give his last name out of fear, told the Associated Press. “I was hiding in a corner all night.”

Shots were heard across Port-au-Prince as authorities battled assailants who had targeted police stations, including two that were set on fire, as well as a police academy and the Toussaint-Louverture International Airport.

An armoured police truck patrolled the streets, rolling past charred vehicles and cinderblock walls where someone had scrawled “Viv Babecue”, a reference to one of Haiti’s most powerful gang leaders, Jimmy Chérizier.

The attack occurred in an area controlled by Chérizier, a former elite police officer who is leader of a powerful gang federation known as G9 Family and Allies.

“Today, we announce that all armed groups are going to act to get Prime Minister Ariel Henry to step down,” Chérizier said in a video posted on social media before the attacks began.

“We will use all strategies to achieve this goal,” he said. “We claim responsibility for everything that’s happening in the streets right now.”

A police union official told the AFP news agency that in addition to the four officers killed, five others were injured.

Schools, universities, and businesses in Haiti halted their activities as the violence escalated Thursday. A dean at the State University of Haiti told AFP that students at school were briefly taken hostage before being released, adding that at least one student was shot and wounded in the fighting.

Multiple airlines also cancelled domestic and international flights after aircraft and an airport terminal came under fire.

Chérizier and other gang leaders have been blamed for coordinated attacks that began on February 29 across the capital. Gunmen have burned police stations, opened fire on the main international airport, and stormed Haiti’s two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates.

The attacks eventually forced Ariel Henry to resign as prime minister and led to the creation of a transitional presidential council whose majority unexpectedly announced a new prime minister on Tuesday: Fritz Bélizaire, a former sports minister. The move is threatening to fracture the nine-member council, which was sworn in last week.

As new leaders take charge of the country amid squabbling, Haitians are demanding that they prioritise their safety as gangs remain more powerful and better armed than Haiti’s national police.

The United Nations says more than 2,500 people have been killed or injured from January to March of this year as a result of the violence. At least 90,000 people have fled Port-au-Prince in just one month as gangs that control an estimated 80% of the capital have increasingly been targeting previously peaceful neighbourhoods.