13125: Chamberlain posts (news item) : Haitian police fire tear gas at protestors (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Michael Deibert

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Haitian police fired
teargas to disperse several hundred angry demonstrators protesting
insecurity and a lack of basic services outside the National Palace in
Port-au-Prince on Tuesday, witnesses said.
     The protesters, who said they were from the capital's impoverished
Cite Soleil shantytown, said President Jean-Bertrand Aristide had reneged
on promises to alleviate their suffering and failed to act against armed
gangs in the neighborhood.
     "People are attacking us, they are burning down our houses," said one
man, who spoke in Creole. "We have no work, no food for our children, the
schools don't open! We say enough!"
     "We can't sleep because we are always so afraid!," shouted another
woman.
     Government officials were not immediately available for comment.
     Protesters threatened passing vehicles with clubs and metal pipes.
Fistfights broke out between protesters and motorists.
     Police fired tear-gas into the crowd and chased and beat the
protesters with batons. No arrests were reported.
     Cite Soleil, one of the most deprived areas in the poor Caribbean
nation of 8 million, is home to some 200,000 people and has served as a
breeding ground for street gangs and pro-government militants.
     A gang war in Cite Soleil has killed 20 people and left 100 wounded in
past weeks and resulted in the burning of hundreds of houses.
     The gangs have often been used by Aristide's government as well as the
opposition Democratic Convergence coalition to demonstrate and burn tires
in the nation's streets in times of political tension.
     Aristide began his second term as Haiti's president in January 2001.
He has since been locked in a two-year dispute with the Democratic
Convergence over May 2000 legislative elections that his opponents contend
were biased to favor Aristide's party.
     The deadlock has stalled over $500 million in international aid.
     On Dec. 17, 2001, gunmen stormed the National Palace after which
thousands of armed Aristide supporters took to the streets burning down
offices and homes affiliated with the Convergence.
     In a resolution passed last week, the Organization of American States
called for a restoration of aid to the country, as well as calling for
disarmament of political militants, the arrest of those responsible for
violence and compensation for people who lost property.