17768: Dorcilien: 2 Killed, 13 Hurt in Haitian Student March (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Nod Dorcilien <ndorcilien@yahoo.com>

Updated: 05:15 PM EST
2 Killed, 13 Hurt in Haitian Student March
By PAISLEY DODDS, AP

Opposition demonstrators march towards downtown
Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2004.
University students and anti-government demonstrators
marched against Aristide in spite of attacks by
government supporters that left at least one dead and
eight injured.(AP Photo/Walter Astrada)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Following the example of
past student movements that helped topple two
presidents, university students marched against
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Wednesday in a
protest marred by bloody clashes that left at least
two dead and 13 injured.

Aristide partisans armed with clubs, bottles and
pistols, swooped down from pickups to block the
marchers who were joined by thousands of
anti-government demonstrators shouting "Freedom!" and
"Down with Aristide!" as riot police fired shots to
keep government partisans away.

At the beginning of the protest, Aristide partisans
attacked demonstrators, hitting one with a rock and
shooting another. Later, police shot and killed an
Aristide supporter after he opened fire on the crowd.
One anti-government protester also was shot and
killed.

At another leg of the march, government partisans
opened fire, wounding two demonstrators. The Aristide
supporters, known as chimeres or thugs, then
surrounded a group of students, stabbing one and
beating six others. Students beat two Aristide
supporters.

"Under Aristide there will be no progress," said
protester Leopold Willeens, 26. "I'm the first student
in my family to go to university, and I want a better
life."

Gunfire crackled throughout the day as smoke billowed
from burning tire barricades. Demonstrators re-grouped
when Aristide supporters attacked with bullets and
rocks. Organizers stopped the march when police warned
they could no longer guarantee security.

The anti-government demonstrators and students accuse
Aristide of being power-hungry and failing to help the
poor. In a country where an estimated 40 percent of
the 8 million people are under 18, such activism
carries weight.

Student protests and strikes helped oust President
Elie Lescot in 1946, followed by Paul Magloire in
1956. Their opposition also led to the weakening of
the Duvalier family dictatorship, which imprisoned
many students during its 29-year regime until 1986.

The marchers join a swelling youth protest movement as
many face a bleak future. Most Haitians are jobless or
without regular work, foreign investment is at a
standstill and foreign visas to countries such as the
United States and France are increasingly hard to
obtain.


01/07/04 17:14 EST

Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. The information
contained in the AP news report may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without
the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.



=====
Nod Dorcilien
President CEO (NAAHD of America)
National Association for the Advancement of Haitian Descendents.
67 Wall Street
P.O. Box 1945
New-York, NY. 10005 Fone: 212-374-0092 Fax:  212-566-4915
E-mail: Ndorcilien@yahoo.com, Website www.naahd.org, coming up soon!

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