21950: Esser: Police break up large pro-Aristide rally in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

Reuters AlertNet
http://www.alertnet.org

May 18, 2004

Police break up pro-Aristide rally in Haiti
By Joseph Guyler Delva

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, May 18 (Reuters) - Police used tear gas and
fired assault rifles in the air on Tuesday to break up a peaceful
march by about 10,000 supporters of ousted Haitian President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Thousands of people poured out of the slums to demand his return,
making it one of the largest demonstrations of lingering support for
Aristide since the former parish priest was driven into exile on Feb.
29 by an armed revolt and U.S. pressure to quit.

Bearing photos of Aristide and wearing T-shirts with his image
printed on them, the crowd chanted: "Long live Aristide, love you
forever Aristide."

"We have not voted for (interim Prime Minister) Gerard Latortue, we
have not voted for (interim President) Boniface Alexandre. We voted
for Aristide," said Marlene Joanis, 29, a resident of the city center
shantytown of Bel-Air.

A short time later, as the march approached the National Palace where
the U.S.-backed interim government was holding a ceremony, riot
police supported by U.S. Marines began to lob tear gas canisters and
to fire dozens of rifle rounds in the air to scatter the crowd.

The United States, now leading a 3,600-strong peace force in Haiti,
had repeatedly criticized the Aristide government for not tolerating
dissent by sending police and street thugs to break up anti-Aristide
rallies when he was still in power.

"I would like to know if this is the kind of democracy the U.S. and
France have promised the Haitian people who are now prohibited from
marching peacefully," said Lesly Gustave, a leader of the march
organized by Aristide's Lavalas Family party.

Police Inspector General Etienne Saint-Gourdin told Reuters the force
dispersed the demonstration because it was illegal.

"We had not received any request for a demonstration by Lavalas," he
said.

Lt. Col. Dave Lapan, a spokesman for the multinational U.S.-led
force, said the Marines backed up the police operation because police
said the march was illegal.

But organizers of the rally showed journalists a May 10 letter the
Lavalas party had written to police informing them of the planned
march. It carried what appeared to be a police stamp acknowledging
its receipt on May 12.

Witnesses said four people were detained. But police said no arrests
had been made.

Aristide was once regarded as a champion of Haiti's fledgling
democracy when he opposed the Duvalier family dictatorship, but he
was accused by his critics in recent years of corruption and
despotism. He is temporarily staying in Jamaica.

South Africa has offered him a temporary abode until he finds a place
of permanent asylum. Aristide's spokesman in Jamaica said he was
awaiting formal word of the offer from South Africa.
.