Armed gangs in Haiti attacked police stations in Port-au-Prince killing four officers and wounding five others on Thursday as they demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

Two police stations were also set ablaze while shots were fired at a police academy and the Toussaint-Louverture International Airport prompting multiple airlines to cancel domestic and international flights.

“Today, we announce that all armed groups are going to act to get Prime Minister Ariel Henry to step down,” gang leader Jimmy Cherisier, known by the nickname Barbecue, 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.”

Schools, universities and businesses in Haiti halted their activities after students at the State University of Haiti were briefly taken hostage before being released, a dean told Agence France-Presse.

The attacks came as Henry is currently in Kenya, which is moving to head up a multinational mission greenlit by the UN Security Council to help the Haitian police wrest back control of the country.

Five countries have said they are willing to join the Kenya-led multinational policing mission, including the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin and Chad.

Henry on Wednesday had agreed to “share power” with the opposition until fresh elections are held, though a date hasn’t been set.

Armed gangs have taken over entire swaths of the country in recent years, unleashing brutal violence that has left the Haitian economy and public health system in tatters.

At the same time, the Caribbean nation has also been engulfed in widespread civil and political unrest, with thousands taking to the streets in recent weeks to demand Henry step down after he refused to do so as scheduled.

Under a political deal concluded following the assassination of president Jovenel Moise in 2021, Haiti was supposed to hold elections and Henry cede power to newly elected officials by 7 February of this year, but that hasn’t happened.