14370: (Chamberlain) Demonstrator killed in Haiti protest (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Jan 8 (Reuters) - A demonstrator taking part in
protests against Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was shot and
killed by riot police in the provincial city of Gonaives on Wednesday,
witnesses and local media said.
     The protester, Saurel Volny, 25, was killed as demonstrators demanding
Aristide's resignation battled with police who were trying to clear
barricades made of burning tires and debris from the Deschaos section of
the city, witnesses said.
     Police and government officials were not immediately available for
comment.
     "We will not be deterred, we will continue this movement until
Aristide goes," Ephraim Aristide, the leader of Wednesday's demonstration
who is no relation to the president, told private Radio Metropole. The
demonstration was organized by a group called The Citizen's Front for the
Liberation of Haiti.
     Gonaives, in northern Haiti, has simmered with tension since the
jailbreak last Aug. 2 of Amiot Metayer, a gang leader and supporter of
President Aristide. Metayer has led several violent pro-government marches
in the city and been involved in tit-for-tat violence with local gang
members and political rivals. Police have made no attempt to re-arrest him.
     Wednesday's violence followed a wave of anti-government protests in
recent months in the impoverished Caribbean nation of 8 million.
     On Tuesday, the streets of many Haitian cities were virtually empty as
motorists and pedestrians observed a strike called by 11 of Haiti's largest
transportation unions against rising fuel prices.
     Aristide has been dogged by opposition since he was re-elected
president in November 2000 after a dispute over parliamentary elections in
May that year. Observers said the results were tabulated in favor of the
ruling Lavalas Family party.
     The government has called for new elections to resolve the crisis. But
the opposition has rejected the proposal, citing security concerns, instead
pressing for Aristide to quit.
     A former Roman Catholic priest, Aristide was first elected in 1990 but
ousted in a coup months later. U.S. troops helped restore him to power in
1994.