PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti (CMC) – Gang violence flared in Port-au-Prince on Thursday, with a top gang leader threatening to overthrow the precarious government as it prepared to hand over its rotating leadership.

Wealthy businessman Laurent Saint-Cyr is set to take the reins of Haiti’s transitional presidential council, taking over from former central bank chief, Fritz Jean.

In a video posted on social media, the leader of Viv Ansanm, Jimmy Chérizier, called on his countrymen to help in the battle to free the country.

Wearing a bulletproof vest and with an automatic rifle slung around his shoulder, Chérizier asked residents to give them free passage to reach the council’s office.

The Kenya-led multinational security support mission operating in Haiti said it had thwarted attacks that gangs had plotted to disrupt national stability and render the country ungovernable.

The mission said three officers from the mission were briefly hospitalised after two armed mission vehicles came under attack by Molotov cocktails and were set ablaze.

Bursts of gunfire were also heard in parts of the capital on Thursday morning.