Saint-Marc Residents Erect Road Barricades Denouncing Police Inaction After Gran Grif Jean-Denis Massacre

Residents of Saint-Marc, the strategic Artibonite port city on Route Nationale 1, erected barricades on major arterial roads in early May 2026 to denounce persistent police inaction following the Gran Grif gang's pre-dawn massacre and arson in the Jean-Denis community (Bas-Artibonite) on the night of April 30–May 1, 2026, which killed at least 2 people and incinerated dozens of peasant homes. The protests reflected deepening frustration among Artibonite communities: residents noted that Gran Grif has repeatedly carried out large-scale attacks in the region — including the October 2024 Pont-Sondé massacre (115+ killed), the March 30, 2026 Jean-Denis massacre (16–70 killed), and ongoing raids throughout the first months of 2026 — without effective security force interdiction. The barricades disrupted traffic on Route Nationale 1, the main artery connecting Port-au-Prince to Cap-Haïtien and the north, amplifying already severe economic and supply-chain pressures across the region. Demonstrators demanded the deployment of adequate police and military forces to protect communities from Gran Grif and Kokorat San Ras gangs that have progressively expanded across the Artibonite Valley since 2024. The protests and road blockades were among the factors that prompted municipal authorities to impose a formal nightly curfew in Saint-Marc effective May 5, 2026, banning all vehicle and motorcycle traffic from 8:30 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. The GSF advance contingent of approximately 545 troops — deployed entirely in Port-au-Prince — lacked the force density to simultaneously address gang expansion in the Artibonite, Centre, and other interior departments.