Gang members clashed with police on Thursday near the Haitian government headquarters as ministers running a weak interim administration met for the first time in months.

AFP and a witness confirmed heavy gunfire in largely gang-controlled downtown Port-au-Prince near the National Palace.

The building had been abandoned because the area was deemed too dangerous but the cabinet met there Thursday to try to give a semblance of normality and order in a country with little of either.

Poverty-stricken Haiti has no sitting congress or president and has not held an election since 2016. Well-armed gangs control much of the country despite the deployment of an international force led by Kenya.

Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime’s office put out a statement saying the meeting marked a “symbolic and decisive phase” in the government retaking control of central Port-Au-Prince.

An AFP correspondent and another witness heard heavy gunfire near the National Palace as the meeting was underway. Police and armored vehicles patrolled the streets.

The government did not immediately say if anyone was hurt or killed.

Haiti has a long history of political instability, poverty, corruption, violence and natural disasters. Its president was assassinated in 2021 and has not been replaced.

Things got worse in 2024 when gangs staged an offensive that forced the resignation of the prime minister.

The president of the transitional council now running Haiti, Laurent Saint-Cyr, recently said at the United Nations that his country is “at war.”