Tension grips Haitian capital
2004-10-02 17:09
Port-Au-Prince - Streets were blocked with overturned cars and debris in the Haitian capital on Saturday while followers of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide called for a third day of demonstrations to demand his return.
The death toll rose to at least seven people as police chief Leon Charles said on Friday that four police were killed in clashes. The headless bodies of three officers turned up on Friday, while another's body was recovered after he was shot on Thursday, Charles said.
Most vendors stayed off the streets on Saturday morning as supporters of Aristide, now in exile in South Africa seven months after his ouster, called for his loyalists to spend a third day commemorating the 1991 army coup that toppled his first government.
Masked gunmen were shooting into the air early on Saturday morning in the traditionally pro-Aristide neighbourhood of Bel Air, private radio station Signal FM reported.
"There is shooting. They are throwing rocks. People can't walk on the street," said Bonhonne Esperance, 42, an unemployed security guard in the area.
Gunfire also erupted early on Saturday in the slum of La Saline, and some people threw rocks at cars, residents said.
At daybreak a team of Haitian police patrolled downtown Port-au-Prince by car, training their rifles down busy side streets. No UN peackeepers were seen in the area.
A pledge for new elections
Brazilian troops came under fire while on patrol on Thursday in the traditionally pro-Aristide slum of Cite Soleil, a seaside slum teeming with gangsters loyal to Aristide. UN spokesperson Toussaint Kongo-Doudou said the Brazilians returned fire but no injuries were reported.
The Haitian broadcaster Radio Metropole reported at least one civilian shot and killed in a pro-Aristide demonstration on Friday.
Tensions have exploded in Haiti as the country struggles to recover from catastrophic floods caused by Tropical Storm Jeanne. The storm killed more than 1 550 and left some 900 missing, most presumed dead.
The storm's aftermath has tied up some 750 of the 3 000 UN peacekeeping troops in Haiti.
On Friday in Port-au-Prince's western suburb of Martissant, protesters fired shots in the air, blocked a highway with piles of burning tires and smashed car windows, witnesses said. Radio Metropole said at least one person was killed there and two injured.
Aristide's Lavalas Family party on Thursday began three days of commemoration of the 1991 coup that unseated him for the first time. They also demanded an end to "the occupation" by foreign troops - referring to the US-led force and the UN peacekeepers who have taken over since June.
Despite the troubles, Haitian Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue on Friday reiterated a pledge for new elections in 2005. "We will not use violence and all of our problems must be solved through elections, which will take place next year," Latortue said during a visit to Coral Gables, Florida.
- AP