17596: News24.com/AP: Cops crack down on Haiti demo (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JD Lemieux <lxhaiti@yahoo.com>

Cops crack down on Haiti demo
29/12/2003 17:15  - (SA)

(AP)


Port-Au-Prince - Police arrested a leading spokesperson for
the opposition in Haiti's second-largest city during a
protest march calling for the resignation of President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the private Radio Vision 2000
reported on Monday.

Dozens shouted "Down with Aristide!" in northcoast
Cap-Haitien on Sunday as police swooped and arrested
Eliscar Charles, allegedly for organising an illegal
demonstration.

Demonstration leaders claimed they had conformed to
regulations that required them to notify the police 48
hours before staging the demonstration.

"This is another step in the government's systematic
repression of protest in Cap-Haitien and elsewhere in the
country," said Frandley Denis Julien, leader of Citizens
Initiative, a civil society group that belongs to the North
District Front.

Charles, a member of the opposition People's Struggle
party, is co-leader of the North District Front, a
coalition that includes civil society groups and several
opposition parties.

Aristide partisans have accused the Front of attempting to
destabilise the government, and the groups' leaders have
either been arrested or are in hiding.

Smashed studio broadcasting equipment

Earlier this month, police arrested Front co-leader Jackson
Noel and 10 other people, charging them with shooting at a
police vehicle.

Witnesses said Noel's eye was injured while he was being
beaten by police. He was later transferred to the capital,
Port-au-Prince.

The same day, police stormed an opposition station, Radio
Maxima, smashed studio broadcasting equipment, and shut the
station down. They found several weapons on the roof.

Police were not available for comment on Monday.

Radio Maxima, whose owner, Jean-Robert Lalane, was shot and
wounded in the shoulder when he narrowly escaped an
assassination attempt on November 25, had been the voice of
the opposition in Cap-Haitien.

Lalane, who has since gone into hiding, is a co-leader of
the North District Front.

Haiti has been in turmoil since flawed May 2000 elections
that the opposition claims were rigged.

Opposition political parties refuse to take part in
legislative elections unless Aristide steps down.

Meanwhile, with at least 41 killed and scores wounded
during anti-government demonstrations since mid-September,
violence is on the rise across this Caribbean nation.

The Organisation of American States and the United States
have exhorted the government to respect the rights of
assembly and deplored the excessive use of force by the
police.






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