18036: (Chamberlain) Haiti-Protest (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By MICHAEL NORTON

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan 19 (AP) -- A student demonstration turned violent
Monday when police fired tear gas and bullets into the air to break up a
protest against embattled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
   Within five minutes of the march's start at the University of Haiti,
police told the group they would have to take another route to avoid
clashes with government supporters.
   The students refused, sparking clashes between protesters and police,
who witnesses said hit some of the students with clubs and fired tear gas
and warning shots. Angry students then threw stones at private schools that
had stayed open despite a request to close in solidarity.
   "We asked the schools to close," said Jacques Toussaint, a 22-year-old
university student.
   During the mayhem, a canister of tear gas landed in a Roman Catholic
girls school, sending children into a panic and leaving them gasping, radio
stations reported. Worried parents hurried to pick up their children and
schools quickly closed.
   On Sunday, the death toll rose to 47 in violent street clashes that have
been steady since mid-September. More than 100 others have been wounded.
Danis Louis, 13, was shot and killed during an anti-government
demonstration in the Central Plateau District's capital of Hinche, private
Radio Galaxie reported.
   Pressure has been building on Aristide's government since his party won
2000 legislative elections that observers said were flawed.
   The Democratic Platform -- a coalition of opposition political parties,
clergy, students and business leaders -- refuses to participate in new
elections unless Aristide resigns.
   The opposition has refused to meet Aristide or his representatives,
saying he must be replaced by a transitional governing council. Leaders in
the Democratic Platform are to meet with members of the 15-member Caribbean
Community in the Bahamas on Tuesday.
   Aristide became Haiti's first freely elected president in 1990, was
overthrown in 1991 and restored in a 1994 U.S. invasion. Forced to step
down in 1996 due to a term limit, he was re-elected in 2000 and says he
plans to serve until his term ends in 2006.