23561: (pub) Chamberlain: Police and Aristide supporters clash (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By MICHELLE FAUL

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Oct 28 (AP) -- Gunfire echoed through the streets of
Port-Au-Prince on Thursday as supporters of ousted President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide battled police whom residents have accused of executing at least
13 people two days earlier.
   The charred carcasses of vehicles blocked a main road of the capital and
in some slum neighborhoods, residents locked their doors as pro-Aristide
militants shot at police from behind the wreckage.
   It was unclear if anyone was wounded or killed in Thursday's violence.
But along Port-au-Prince's seaside road, gunfire was reported and people
told a radio station that four people were killed by armed civilians. The
reports could not be independently confirmed.
   The surge in violence marks growing chaos in Haiti and an increasingly
difficult challenge for a U.S.-backed interim government that has promised
elections next year. A month of violence has left at least 62 people dead
-- not including the 13 people residents said were executed by police on
Tuesday.
   People who said they were witnesses and relatives of the victims
described the police executions, while occasional gunshots whizzed around
Fort National, a warren of alleyways and one-room homes in the capital.
Police and interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue denied residents'
accusations.
   "I was on the roof taking clothes off the line when my friend Reginald
was trying to run away from (the police)," said Renemise Joseph, 23. "They
shot him in the mouth. Then they dragged him away and I heard another shot.
We couldn't see anything else because when they arrived they shouted:
'Everybody get down, get down.'"
   She said she saw men with black hoods, masks and helmets, the typical
uniform of the Haitian riot police squad.
   Latortue said it was definitely not an official police operation.
   "I can assure you categorically of that for a fact," he told The
Associated Press. "We have nothing to do with that."
   Latortue suggested the attackers were agents of Aristide trying to
destabilize Haiti. "These black uniforms, you can buy them anywhere," he
said. "This is part of the orchestrated campaign by people close to
Aristide."
   Latortue mentioned no plan to investigate the killings.
   Joseph identified her dead friend as Reginald Francois, 25. His brother
Gary Francois said he saw Reginald's body and seven others at
Port-au-Prince's general morgue Wednesday. He said his brother's hands were
bound with a black cord.
   Francois said the gunmen arrived in five vehicles, including a blue
pickup truck like those used by police and a white Nissan Patrol like those
driven by Haitian senators. None of the cars had license plates.
   Another brother, Luc Francois, said the victims didn't have jobs, but
they never hurt anybody.
   "They passed their time playing music, playing dominoes, watching
television," he said. "The only other thing they did was smoke some weed.
They had no guns. They were never into anything violent. They were not into
politics."
   Neighbors said they heard young men pleading for their lives, shouting
"Have mercy, have mercy, don't shoot."
   An old woman afraid to give her name said, "They didn't ask them
anything. They just shot them."
   Thursday was the last day of a three-day protest strike called by
Aristide supporters to demand the release of dozens who have been arrested.
   Armed rebels whose revolt led up to Aristide's Feb. 29 ouster still
control many parts of the countryside, while in the capital Aristide
partisans dominate the slums and are demanding his return.
   Aristide, who is now in South Africa, has denied involvement in violence
and accused the United States of orchestrating his ouster. The U.S.
government denies it.
   Also Thursday, some 200 Spanish troops began coming ashore from a ship
in northern Cap-Haitien to join the U.N. peacekeeping force. The
Brazilian-led force has been stretched thin as it attempts to deal with the
violence and the aftermath of Tropical Storm Jeanne, which killed 1,900
people.