20023: (Chamberlain) Six killed in anti-Aristide march in Haiti (later story) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Ibon Villelabeitia and Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, March 7 (Reuters) - Suspected supporters of
exiled Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide sprayed gunfire into a
crowd of thousands of jubilant revelers outside the National Palace on
Sunday, killing at least six people, including a Spanish journalist, and
wounding 18.
     Eyewitnesses said gunmen linked to Aristide's Lavalas movement fired
from rooftops and burst into the capital's main square in a pickup truck, a
jeep and on foot, shooting with automatic weapons into a festive crowd
celebrating the fall of the president.
     "A whole group from Lavalas came down the Champs de Mars firing in
every direction," said Ingrid Arnesen, a CNN producer who witnessed the
attack. "Heavy machine gun fire."
     It was the boldest attack since Aristide, facing a bloody revolt and
international pressure, fled the impoverished Caribbean nation of 8 million
last Sunday. His supporters had accused rebel troops of conducting reprisal
raids in the capital's slums, home to thousands of Aristide supporters.
     Hospital officials said the dead included Spaniard Ricardo Ortega, a
correspondent for the Antena 3 Spanish television station. The wounded
included two Haiti police officers and American journalist Michael Laughlin
of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel newspaper, who was shot in face and
shoulder.
     U.S. Marines leading an international peace mission roared to the
scene in machine gun-mounted Humvees as panicked demonstrators ran for
cover and military helicopters hovered over the palace.
     "It was a massacre," said Haitian National Police chief Leonce
Charles, who was appointed to the job last week.
     Prime Minister Yvon Neptune urged police to pursue the "assassins" no
matter what side of Haiti's political divide they came from and said police
and foreign troops should start disarming people with illegal weapons.
     "I urge all sides to stop the demonstrations until we have a new prime
minister and a new government and we can deal with security in the
country," Neptune said at a news conference.
     The shootings shattered a largely peaceful demonstration in which
thousands took to the streets in a noisy parade to celebrate the fall of
Aristide, who fled to Africa. More than 200 people have been killed in the
month-long rebellion.
     The march, closely watched by U.S. Marines, French troops and Haitian
National Police in riot gear, came two days after thousands of angry
supporters of Aristide burst out of slums and marched on the U.S. embassy
to protest the "U.S. occupation" and demand his return.
     In Sunday's march, revelers hoisted Guy Philippe, the leader of the
ragtag band of rebels who helped oust Aristide, on their shoulders,
shouting "Philippe, Philippe!" Another rebel commander, former death squad
chief Louis Jodel Chamblain, signed autographs.
     Witnesses said the gunfire erupted at street level and from the tops
of buildings around the square. Many blamed Aristide's most militant and
ruthless supporters, known as the "chimeres."
     "I saw about a hundred chimeres a couple of blocks from the Champs de
Mars," said Thierry David Henry, a university student attending the rally.
"They were shooting down at the crowd from the buildings."
     U.S. Marines returned fire from within the National Palace grounds
when men in a vehicle opened fire, an official said.
     "I believe the Marines engaged the vehicle when they fired rounds,"
said Major Richard Crusan.
     The journalists were shot during a gun fight between chimeres and a
Haitian police special weapons team, a witness said.
     In the wake of the shootings, the body of a man in a blue shirt lay in
the Champs de Mars in front of an unfinished monument started by Aristide
to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Haiti's independence from France.
     U.S. Marines rushed through the streets in tank-like Light Armored
Vehicles and pointed rifles at rooftops. Wailing relatives and friends
packed the Canape Vert hospital where most of the wounded were taken.
     The shooting spree brought pleas from Aristide's political foes for
international forces to disarm the chimeres.
     The U.S., French, Chilean and Canadian forces in Haiti, which number
about 2,300, had been on high alert on Sunday, expecting rival
demonstrations. But until the shooting, Aristide's supporters had not
materialized in the streets.
     "Why are they there if they are not going to protect the people?"
opposition leader Marie Denise Claude said. "The international community
must disarm the thugs."
      Aristide, a former Roman Catholic priest, became a champion of
Haiti's impoverished masses when he helped overthrow the brutal Duvalier
family dictatorship in 1986.
     From his exile in the Central African Republic, he has claimed he was
kidnapped by U.S. forces, an allegation the U.S. government has denied.
     A council of elders was expected to name a new prime minister this
week.

 (Additional reporting by Amy Bracken and Eliana Aponte)