25426: (news) Chamberlain: Canada foreign minister splashed at Haiti meeting (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     MONTREAL, June 17 (Reuters) - A protester disrupted a news conference
at the conclusion of an international conference on elections in Haiti on
Friday, when he splattered Canadian Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew with
what appeared to be red paint.
     Pettigrew's hands and clothes were covered with paint and he was
forced to leave the conference as security guards wrestled the young male
protester out of the room.
     The two-day Montreal conference had concluded with an agreement on
providing international assistance for Haiti to hold presidential,
legislative and municipal elections in October and November.
     Elections Canada, which runs federal and provincial elections in
Canada, has been chosen to oversee an election observer mission to the
Caribbean county.
     While the conference was going on at a downtown hotel, protesters, who
appeared to be supporters of ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, chanted anti-Canadian slogans outside.
     Since Aristide's departure from Haiti in 2004, the impoverished
country of 8 million has been plagued by political and criminal violence
that has killed at least 770 people.