17855: (Chamberlain) Haitians stage protest, church condemns Aristide (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Amy Bracken

    PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Thousands of Haitians staged
a protest march against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in the capital
Port-au-Prince on Sunday as the poorest country in the Americas approached
a key milestone in its political crisis.
     The terms of most members of parliament are due to expire on Monday
with no plan in sight to hold elections to replace them, threatening to
plunge Haiti further into disarray.
     Aristide, a former priest once widely hailed as a hero of democracy
but now accused by his critics of trampling on civil rights, became Haiti's
first democratically elected leader in 1991.
     Since his reelection in 2000, he has been at odds with opponents over
the tainted results of parliamentary elections that year. The dispute has
prevented new elections taking place as required by the constitution.
     The march on Sunday, the latest in a series of mounting protests in
recent months, began after a mass by Roman Catholic Bishop Pierre-Andre
Dumas who criticized the corruption, repression and anarchy that he said
Aristide's government had created.
     "We must regain our strength and take back the country," Monsignor
Dumas told a crowd of several hundred at Saint Pierre Church in the
capital.
     The group swelled to a crowd of at least 10,000, witnesses said, as it
marched through the streets in one of the few anti-Aristide demonstrations
in recent months to end peacefully.
     Many of the demonstrators said they were protesting at political
violence. "I'm here because the gangsters are the law now," said university
student Cadet Moise, who said he went to every anti-Aristide demonstration.
     Similar rallies in the towns of Petit Goave and Miragoane, however,
turned violent, according to Radio Megastar reporters. One armed Aristide
supporter was shot dead by a police officer in Miragoane, they said.
     Many businesses in Port-au-Prince and elsewhere observed the fourth
day of a general strike that was originally called for just two days by
opponents of the president.