PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) — A Haitian television station said Sunday it had been looted and its premises set alight, days after two other media outlets were similarly attacked in a new wave of violence gripping the capital Port-au-Prince.

The Telepluriel television station announced on its website that its premises had been “emptied of its equipment” and then set on fire on Saturday night.

The premises of Melodie FM and Radio-Television Caraibes, the country’s oldest radio station, were burnt down last Wednesday night in Port-au-Prince, journalists from those media outlets told AFP.

“Radio Television Caraibes (RTVC), the mainstay of news in Haiti, has been hit by violence from armed gangs. The burning down of its premises by these criminals is a despicable act, a serious attack on freedom of expression, which has been won at great sacrifice,” Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime wrote on X.

In a statement, the National Association of Haitian Media said it “condemns unreservedly this infamous act, which perpetuates the ongoing chaos”.

The poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti is politically unstable and the capital has for years languished under the control of rival armed gangs, which run protection rackets and carry out murders, rapes and kidnaps for ransom.

Armed groups have been battling for control of Port-au-Prince for several years, and clashes have intensified in recent weeks as the rival gangs attempt to establish new territories.

Last December, two journalists and a policeman were killed in a shoot-out provoked by gangs.