=?x-unknown?q?16888=3A__=28Benodin=29__Police_try_to_raid?==?x-unknown?q?_shantytown_in_beleaguered_Haitian_city_of_Go?==?x-unknown?q?na=EFves=2C_five_killed_=28fwd=29?=

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Robert Benodin <r.benodin@worldnet.att.net>

Police try to raid shantytown in beleaguered Haitian city of Gonaïves, five
killed
October 3, 2003
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) Police trying to raid a shantytown started a
gunfight that left five men dead Thursday in Gonaïves, radio stations
reported from the beleaguered city paralyzed by protesting supporters of a
slain gang leader once loyal to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Officers went on the offensive the day after protesters torched the police
station.
With a helicopter hovering overhead, police tried without success to
penetrate Raboteau shantytown, exchanging gunfire with protesters for two
hours, independent Radio Etincelles reported.
Five people were shot and killed in nearby slums, including two motorbike
taxi drivers trying to flee the firefight, two radio stations reported. At
least 10 people were wounded, raising the toll to six killed and 28 wounded
since Amyot Metayer’s bullet-riddled body was found Sept. 22.
National Police spokeswoman Daphne Orlando said she had no information about
the raid. She spoke in Port-au-Prince, 110 kilometers (70 miles) southeast
of Gonaïves.
Members and supporters of Métayer’s ``Cannibal Army’ gang claim the
government ordered his assassination to stop him spreading damaging
information about Aristide.
They remained politically isolated Thursday, with Haiti’s traditional
opposition distancing itself even as the disparate groups both call for
Aristide’s resignation.
``We are opposed to political assassinations,’ opposition politician Evans
Paul said, ``But we can give wholehearted support to the movement in
Gonaïves only in so far as it is nonviolent.’
On Wednesday, attackers stormed four government buildings, torching three
and burning internal revenue archives in the street.
On Monday, gunmen burned down the home of Gonaïves police chief Harold
Adeclat, accused of complicity in Métayer’s killing. Last week, protesters
ransacked the home of grass-roots leader Odonel Paul, reportedly the last
person to see Métayer alive.
The government denies involvement in Métayer’s slaying, saying only its
political opponents gain from protests it links to ``the armed wing of the
opposition.’
Opposition groups denied involvement in the Gonaïves uprising but did not
rule out future cooperation: ``As soon as Métayer’s followers stop calling
themselves a ’cannibal army,’ we’ll declare our support,’ said Jean-Robert
Lalane, coordinator of the Northern District Front opposition alliance.
Militants like Paul and outlaws like Métayer have been the key to Aristide’s
control of Gonaïves. Their about-face parallels that of many who voted for
Aristide but have grown disenchanted as poverty deepens in the Caribbean
country.
Aristide has brushed aside protesters’ demands that he resign, saying they
come from ``a small group.’
``Métayer’s followers are struggling for their survival,’ Paul said. ``They
saw how Métayer was used and then eliminated, and fear they will suffer the
same fate.’
Métayer was arrested on arson charges May 21, 2002, months after the
Organization of American States called for him to be tried on charges of
attacking Aristide opponents.
Supporters freed Métayer three months later by driving a tractor through the
prison wall.