18184: (Chamberlain) Haiti-Protest (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By MICHAEL NORTON

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan 31 (AP) -- Marchers demanding the resignation of
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide were stopped Saturday by government
supporters who threw stones at them, uncontrolled by surrounding police.
   Two bystanders -- a 13-year-old boy and a woman -- were shot and
wounded, Radio Vision 2000 reported from Haiti's northern port city,
Cap-Haitien. Their condition was not immediately known, and it was unclear
who fired the shots.
   Some people were hurt by the hail of rocks and bottles hurled by
Aristide supporters, but it was not clear how many, the independent radio
station reported. One police officer was injured by a rock.
   "Aristide must go whether he likes it or not," chanted the more than
1,000 demonstrators as they marched for a mile in downtown Cap-Haitien
before being attacked by about 20 Aristide partisans armed with guns, Radio
Vision said.
   Police eventually fired in the air, and the protesters and partisans ran
away. No one was arrested for their part in the violence.
   The march was called by a coalition of opposition parties and civil
groups that organized numerous strikes and demonstrations since December.
   At least 50 people have been killed since mid-September in clashes
between protesters and police, and protesters and Aristide supporters.
   On Friday, the U.S. State Department ordered nonessential diplomats and
family members to leave the impoverished Caribbean country.
   The State Department warned Americans against visiting a place where the
government "has not been able to maintain order ... and in some instances
has assisted in violently repressing the demonstrations."
   Haiti has been in turmoil since Aristide's Lavalas Family party swept
flawed legislative elections in 2000.
   Aristide has pledged to hold new elections, but the opposition coalition
refuses to participate unless he steps down. Aristide was elected in a
separate 2000 election marred by an opposition boycott and poor voter
turnout. His term ends in 2006.
   Aristide has condemned the violence that erupts during protests, even as
critics accuse him of egging on his supporters and police of sometimes
attacking anti-government demonstrators. "No one has the right to throw
rocks at people," Aristide said Friday.
   The opposition coalition also called Saturday for the release of jailed
political activists and the reopening of Cap-Haitien's opposition Radio
Maxima, which police shut down Dec. 17 after smashing equipment.
   Police officers who searched the station with a warrant said they seized
two assault rifles, a pistol and grenades and arrested 11 people on
allegations of plotting to overthrow the government. Seven of them later
were released.
   Elsewhere in Haiti, a policeman was shot and killed Friday night at the
wake of an Aristide partisan killed during a protest, Radio Vision
reported. It was unclear what the mourners were fighting about, or who
might have fired the shot.
   Despite a new police ban on demonstrations in Port-au-Prince, Haiti's
capital, the opposition coalition planned a march on Sunday.