Fear has gripped parts of Haiti after a notorious death squad leader and his band of hardened ex-soldiers arrived to reinforce a revolt that threatens President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Government supporters flung up new street barricades last night, gunmen attacked a gas station, some schools shut down and residents of the central town of Hinche continued to loot their burned-out police station in the power vacuum left when a paramilitary force drove out police.
Radio stations reported another town, Fort-Liberte in the northeast, had fallen to the rebels.
The appearance of exiled right-wing militia leader Louis Jodel Chamblain and former police chief Guy Philippe has added a new dimension to the disorganised rebellion against Mr Aristide - once viewed as a champion of democracy but who now faces accusations of corruption and political violence.
Philippe, who Mr Aristide once accused of coup-mongering, last night declared himself head of the armed forces in Gonaives, with 300 former soldiers under his command, Radio Metropole reported.
Many, including the government, believe Haiti's dispirited police face a challenge they do not have the ability, or the weapons, to overcome without outside help.
The port of Saint Marc, midway between Port-au-Prince and the city of Gonaives, where the armed revolt began almost two weeks ago, was locked down on Tuesday evening by militia manning barricades to defend it against possible attack, according to a Reuters photographer.