Sporadic gunfire echoed through the streets of Port-au-Prince on Monday as the government remained silent in the face of protests that have paralyzed the Haitian capital and triggered rising violence.

Embattled Haiti Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant resigned on Saturday following deadly violence and looting sparked by a now-abandoned plan to raise fuel prices, triggering a fraught process to form a new government.

Haiti's president on Saturday heralded the re-establishment of the country's military after 22 years, a divisive issue in the impoverished Caribbean nation which has a history of bloody coups and political instability.