8330: Protesters riot in Haiti over moves to arrest senator (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Max Blanchet <maxblanchet@worldnet.att.net>

Protesters riot in Haiti over moves to arrest senator
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Jun 15, 2001

Rioters set up burning barricades in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince and
elsewhere on Friday in protest at what appeared to be moves to arrest
politician Dany Toussaint in connection with the assassination of leading
journalist Jean Dominique, Haitian Signal FM radio reported.

The barricades were erected in the city's Petion-Ville area and Delmas by
protesters demanding that the judiciary stop naming Toussaint as a suspect
in the killing of Dominique, who had headed Radio Haiti Inter, and a night
watchman at the station in April 2000.

One protester told Signal FM that Toussaint could not have killed them
because he had not attacked President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

"We do not agree with the way the Dominique case is going," he said.

"We demand justice for Dominique, but Toussaint must not be charged with the
murder, because if Toussaint were killer, he would have killed Aristide on
the day of the coup d'etat. Toussaint is not a killer.

"This action is under way this morning because the men are taking steps to
arrest former Major Toussaint. We say this blow will not pass. The men know
very well who killed Dominique. They know this so well that some of them
have gone into exile, have gone away. We in Petion-Ville have seen that they
want to embarrass Toussaint in this matter, and therefore we are standing
against that. We will remain in solidarity with him so this blow does not
pass."

Source: Signal FM Radio, Port-au-Prince, in Creole 15 Jun 01

/BBC Monitoring/ © BBC.