17553: Lemieux: Reuters: Stop paying taxes, Haiti opposition urges (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JD Lemieux <lxhaiti@yahoo.com>


15 Dec 2003 21:59:48 GMT
Stop paying taxes, Haiti opposition urges

By Amy Bracken

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Civic and political
groups seeking the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide urged Haitians on Monday to stop paying taxes and
called for a one-day general strike on Tuesday.

The Platform of the Civil Society and Political Parties
Group, a coalition of private and public sector
organizations opposed to Aristide, called for a campaign of
civil disobedience, including a tax boycott.

"We cannot continue to give money to Aristide to pay thugs
to attack us," said businessman and political activist
Andre Apaid, speaking for the group at a news conference.

The group called on state employees and police to abandon
the government and join forces with the opposition. It
called for a one-day strike on Tuesday, followed by massive
demonstrations on Wednesday.

Several hundred students gathered downtown for an
anti-Aristide march on Monday. Police fired bullets into
the air and threw tear gas to disperse them.

Police had warned the demonstration would not be permitted
because the organizers did not notify police of the time
and location 48 hours in advance, as required by law.

Opposition leaders issued a statement saying they no longer
recognized the authority of the government and the police,
and would demonstrate without prior notification.

Apaid said police would not be notified of the time or
place of Wednesday's demonstration because this would
invite the violent disruption of the protest by police and
"thugs".

Last week saw one of the largest anti-Aristide protests
yet, as well as violent clashes between protesters and
supporters of the president.

After being ousted by a bloody military coup in 1991,
Aristide was returned to Haiti in a U.S.-led invasion in
1994 and was re-elected in 2000. Since then, tension
between his supporters and opponents has grown, with
opponents claiming his re-election was illegitimate and
accusing him of engaging in corruption and of ordering
violence.

Defenders of the president claim that he has the
constitutional right to remain in office for five years,
and accuse opponents of planning another coup.

Tuesday is the anniversary of the president's first
election in 1990 and Apaid said the opposition will not
demonstrate on that day. Wednesday is the anniversary of an
attempted coup against the president in 2001.

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