18152: (Chamberlain) Haiti-Protest (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By MICHAEL NORTON

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan 28 (AP) -- Police fired warning shots and tear gas
to break up a confrontation between Haitian protesters and their foes in
front of the U.S. Consulate on Wednesday. One student was killed,
apparently when he was struck by a tear-gas grenade.
   The student protesters were demanding that President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide step down. They were met by Aristide partisans who pelted them
with rocks.
   One student was shot and killed near the consulate, apparently by a
gun-fired tear gas grenade that hit him in the back and caused internal
bleeding, said Dr. Eric Cantave, who removed the canister from the
student's back.
   Dozens of students and parents crowded into the capital's main Canape
Vert Hospital, sobbing and shouting anti-government slogans.
   Haiti has been in turmoil since Aristide's Lavalas Family party swept
2000 legislative elections that observers said were flawed. In the past
four months, at least 50 people have been killed.
   The students want the United States to help them in calling for
Aristide's resignation. U.S. troops restored Aristide to power in 1994
after a coup.
   "The United States is an important factor in the crisis. It has to
assume its responsibility," University of Haiti student leader Herve
Saintilus said.
   Officials temporarily shut down the U.S. Consulate because of the
unrest, said Judith Trunzo, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy, which
remained open and is about one mile from the consulate.
   The protest was held outside the Consulate in defiance of a police order
that limited demonstrations to a seaside square.
   There was no immediate police comment about Wednesday's shooting.
   Caribbean leaders have been trying to solve the country's three-year
political impasse, meeting in the Bahamas last week with Haitian opposition
members and with Aristide on Sunday.
   Aristide will meet with regional leaders on Friday in Jamaica.
   The opposition says it will not hold talks with the government or
participate in new elections unless Aristide resigns. Aristide has said he
plans to serve out his term, which ends in 2006.
   "Aristide is pitting the police against the people," opposition
politician Evans Paul said.
   Police broke up three student demonstrations last week with tear gas,
saying they weren't complying with a 1987 decree requiring protesters to
submit plans two days before and to give names of participants.