13711: (Chamberlain) Thousands protests against government in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Michael Deibert

     CAP HAITIEN, Haiti, Nov 17 (Reuters) Thousands took the streets of
Haiti's second-largest city on Sunday to demand the resignation of the
country's embattled president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
     The march, sponsored by a local umbrella-organization known as the
Citizens Initiative, began at the city's center and continued on through
the historic city gates, increasing manifold as it went along. Police
sources estimated the crowd at around 8,000 people.
     As the march progressed, with opposition politicians, former members
of the Haitian military and civil society figures at its head, thousands of
ordinary citizens spilled out of the city's populous slums to join in
chants of "Down with Aristide" and "Down with Lavalas criminals," a
reference to Aristide's ruling Lavalas Family political party. Others
smiled and clapped, pumping their fists from rooftops and balconies.
     "Aristide is a thief!" some shouted. "Send him to prison!"
     "We want Aristide to leave because he has given us nothing, no work,
no rice, only hunger," said a frail peasant man from the nearby hamlet of
San Raphael, lifting up his shirt to show his emaciated rib cage.
     The marchers then scaled a monument commemorating an historic battle
in the city where rebellious Haitians defeated colonial French forces in
1803, raising the Haitian flag as march organizers addressed the cheering
throng.
     "All those who want to build hope for the country, raise their hand;
all those who want to get rid of Aristide, raise their hand; all those who
want to respect human rights, raise their hand!" shouted Evans Paul, an
opposition politician, to the thunderous applause of the crowd assembled.
     Paul, a member of the Democratic Convergence opposition coalition and
former mayor of the capital, Port-au-Prince, continued: "We will fight
against dictatorship, we will fight for liberty! Citizens alongside
citizens, without division, without violence."
     The march proceeded under police protection, and the heavily outfitted
riot officers were cheered by the crowd at the march's end.
     "We thank the Haitian National Police for providing security for the
people today," said Himmler Robu, a former officer in the army that ousted
Aristide in a military coup in 1991. Aristide disbanded the army when he
was returned to power by a U.S.-led multinational force in 1994.
     "The struggle begins today, and it requires intelligence,
determination and a clear head," Robu said.
     The protest comes on the heels of a large march in the capital Friday
by university students protesting against what they said was the
government's interference in the country's state university system.
     The students stormed and occupied the university's rectory, then
marched to the gates of the National Palace, demanding Aristide's
resignation and new elections.
     Aristide began his second term as Haiti's president in February 2001
and has since been locked in a two-year dispute with the Convergence
coalition over May 2000 legislative elections that his opponents contend
were biased to favor Aristide's Lavalas party.
     The deadlock has stalled over $500 million in international aid.
     Inflation in Haiti has risen 16%, and the Haitian currency, the
gourde, has lost 40% of value in the past year.
     A pyramid investment scheme collapsed last summer, wiping out the life
savings of tens of thousands of Haitians and a rumor that the cash-strapped
government was planning to convert dollar bank accounts to the Haitian
currency at a low rate recently resulted in a run on banks that saw
depositors withdraw $20 million in three days.
     The country has also seen a marked increase in political violence over
the past year, including an attack by unidentified commandos on the
National Palace, anti-government riots in the capital and elsewhere, and
increased threats to press freedom by government supporters.