24932: Hermantin(News)RIGHTS GROUP DECRIES POLICE SLAYINGS (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

HAITI

RIGHTS GROUP DECRIES POLICE SLAYINGS

PORT-AU-PRINCE -- Amnesty International Friday decried what it called a
pattern of political killings by the Haitian police, whose spokeswoman
denied accusations that officers this week shot and killed as many as nine
peaceful demonstrators without provocation.

Police spokeswoman Gessy Coicou said Friday that demonstrators and Haitian
journalists were mistaken when they reported that Haitian police fired
Wednesday on a demonstration in support of former President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, slaying five people instantly and leaving four others with fatal
wounds.

''There was no demonstration,'' she said. Instead, she said the deaths
occurred when gunfire erupted as police tried to capture bandits attacking
people in neighborhoods around the U.N. peacekeeping headquarters.

Four witnesses independently told The Associated Press this week that police
pulled up behind demonstrators and fired as the march approached the U.N.
building.

Amnesty International said in a statement that ``the use of lethal and
indiscriminate violence by the police to disperse and repress demonstrators
only serves to increase tension in an already violence-torn country.''