18153: (Chamberlain) One killed in Haiti unrest (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Jan 28 (Reuters) - A Haitian university student
was killed on Wednesday after being hit in the torso by a tear gas canister
fired by police as pro- and anti-government protests gripped the poor
Caribbean country.
     The law school student was hit while walking down a street with a
group of young men, chanting support for President Jean-Bertrand Aristide,
shortly after an anti-Aristide demonstration had been dispersed, according
to a Reuters correspondent and doctors.
     The student suffered severe internal injuries and died at Canape Vert
Hospital, doctors at the hospital said.
     The death came on a day of more clashes between police and supporters
and opponents of Aristide. Protesters threw rocks at the police and each
other, and police repeatedly fired tear gas.
     Up to 20,000 marched through Port-au-Prince on Tuesday to call for the
departure of Aristide, two days after Bahamian Prime Minister Perry
Christie met with the embattled president to discuss ways to resolve
Haiti's political crisis.
     Representing the Caribbean Community, Christie called on the
government to allow free and safe protests.
     But a police communique issued this week said all future
demonstrations would be confined to a downtown park. Opposition leaders
rejected the order as a violation of free expression and several police
commanders said they had yet to see it.
     Aristide and his political foes have been at odds over the tainted
results of parliamentary elections in 2000. The stalemate has dominated the
former priest's second term as president and led to an aid freeze.