12723: Three injured during student protests against Haiti government interference (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Stanley  Lucas <slucas@iri.org>

Taiwan News.com
World
Three injured during student protests against Haiti government interference

2002-08-16 / Reuters /
PORT-AU-PRINCE

A group of students protesting government interference in the university system clashed with supporters of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on yesterday outside Haiti's Ministry of Education, witnesses said.

They said three people suffered minor injuries during the melee when activists from the ruling Lavalas Family party threw stones from the windows of the ministry, disrupting a sit-in staged by the Front to Defend the Autonomy of the State University.

The two groups have been at odds for weeks. In late July, seven Lavalas supporters occupied several university rooms to force the dismissal of University Vice-Chancellor Pierre Marie Paquiot and delay student and faculty elections.

The Lavalas-dominated Senate issued a statement supporting the demands and urging Minister of Education Myrtho Celestin Saurel to act. Saurel fired Paquiot on Sunday and suspended the elections indefinitely.

Some students participating in the protest accused the government of delaying the elections until it could find a way to fill student and faculty posts with government loyalists.

"The executive branch wants all the power, they want to control the university as they want to control the country, in all aspects," said student Wilfred Jacques, who was protesting the government's latest moves.

"The only solution is for the university to retain its autonomy."

Haiti has been hit by growing unrest in recent weeks, including anti-government protests in the coastal city of Gonaives following an assault on the local jail that freed about 150 inmates.