SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Most of Haiti on Tuesday was celebrating the anniversary of a historic battle that helped the country become the world’s first Black republic, but a town that was key in that struggle was busy fighting for its life.

Residents in the once peaceful coastal town of Arcahaie, the birthplace of Haiti’s flag, joined forces with police on Tuesday to push back heavily armed gangs trying to seize control of their community.

“We are holding them off for the moment,” Mayor Jean Edner Gilles told The Associated Press by phone.

One police officer was shot in the head and killed during the attack that began Monday and is ongoing, with Haiti’s National Police blaming what it called “terrorist gangs.”

Gilles said many people have been injured, but he was unable to provide

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