16871: (Chamberlain) Haiti-Violence (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By MICHAEL NORTON

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Oct 1 (AP) -- A group of attackers stormed four
government buildings Wednesday, torching three of them in revenge for the
slaying of a gang leader.
   Supporters of Amiot Metayer, leader of the "Cannibal Army" street gang,
set fire to a customs house, police station and a state-run insurance
company in the northwest town of Gonaives, independent Radio Metropole
reported.
   The customs house was partially damaged and the police station was
gutted, the radio station reported. The group smashed the first-floor
windows of the National Insurance Office and burned documents, partially
damaging the building.
   They later stormed the internal revenue bureau, carted out documents and
burned them in the street.
   Hundreds of protesters then took to the streets and formed flaming tire
barricades on the seventh day of protests since Metayer's bullet-riddled
body was found near the town of St. Marc on Sept. 22.
   No injuries or arrests were reported in Wednesday's demonstrations.
   Protesters have been demanding President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's
resignation, saying the government was involved in Metayer's killing
because he had damaging information on Aristide. The government denies the
claim.
   The about-face in the attitudes of Metayer's supporters signals a
growing rift between the Caribbean country's president and poor street
activists who have been a key source of Aristide's support.
   In demonstrations since Sept. 23, one man has been killed and at least
17 injured by gunshot wounds in the west-coast town some 70 miles northwest
of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
   Some residents viewed Metayer as a hoodlum, whose gang terrorized
government opponents and rivals. But others viewed him as a Robin Hood who
lavished them with gifts.