PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — An angry mob throwing stones and burning tires clashed with police yesterday in the Haitian capital as officers tried to move two men suspected of trying to kidnap a local child. Two people were wounded by gunfire.The kidnapping suspects had earlier been captured by residents of Port-au-Prince’s Delmas neighbourhood. When authorities were going to transfer the men, a crowd descended on the police station to demand they be handed over so they could be lynched, witnesses said.

At least two men were wounded by gunfire after Haitian and UN police fired bullets and tear gas to disperse the crowd of several hundred people, according to two Associated Press photographers at the scene. It was unclear who shot the men.

One of the wounded men had a gunshot wound to the stomach while the other had been shot in the leg. They were carried away by people in the crowd and their conditions weren’t known.

A UN vehicle was also set on fire and destroyed. About nine UN police officers — part of an international force brought in to help stabilise Haiti following the 2004 ouster of Jean-Bertrand Aristide — came to assist about 30 members of the national police force as the crowd gathered outside the station.

A UN spokeswoman, Sophie Boutaud de la Combe, said authorities were still trying to gather information about the incident and could not confirm whether there were any United Nations peacekeepers in the area.

“If it’s confirmed that UN police were there and if it’s confirmed that they opened fire then we would have to open an inquiry, even if they fired in the air,” de la Combe said.

Haitian police spokesman Frantz Lerebours said the two kidnapping suspects were later transferred to another jail and were being held for questioning.

Kidnappings are a major threat in the Haitian capital and both the UN and national police have recently launched operations in recent weeks intended to crack down on the problem.