PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) — A protest that forced the total shutdown of Haiti’s largest hydroelectric plant has resulted in an ongoing power outage in Port-au-Prince and the country’s central region, utility operators said.

Denouncing the outage as “heinous” sabotage, state-owned Electricity of Haiti said in a statement Thursday that the closure of the Peligre power plant since Tuesday’s protest has caused “a total blackout” in areas it serves.

Over 85 per cent of the Haitian capital is controlled by powerful gangs who have repeatedly waged attacks against law enforcement and locals.

Lawyer and activist Robenson Mazarin, who represents the civil society protesters who shut down the plant, told AFP the action came in response to the central towns of Mirebalais and Saut d’Eau being left unprotected from gang activity.

“We decided to shut down the hydroelectric plant because the government has abandoned these two towns to the hands of criminal gangs. Authorities refuse to deploy the necessary force to drive out the bandits and restore peace,” said Mazarin, coordinator of the central region’s Engaged Citizens Movement.

“As long as this situation persists, the production plant will remain closed.”

Since March 31, the Viv Ansanm gang coalition has been in control of Mirebalais, and has facilitated the escape of 515 prisoners from a jail.

Viv Ansanm also forced the closure and evacuation of patients at the Mirebalais University Hospital, one of the country’s largest health providers, on April 23 until further notice.

Haiti is the poorest country of the Americas, and its political instability has given way to the rise of violent criminal gangs, who have been accused of murder, rape, looting and kidnapping.

The country is run by a transitional government and has experienced a fresh surge of violence since February, with gangs pressing into previously safe areas.

This, despite the partial deployment of a multi-national security mission led by Kenya to assist local law enforcement.

The United Nations has warned that Haiti is approaching a “point of no return” that threatens to plunge the country into “total chaos”.