27934: Fwd: Edouard (reply)Re: 27922: Fenton: : (reply) Re: 27856: Ferdinand reply Simidor (comment) Re: 27425: Aristide & the Endless Revolution Screenings (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: VICTORIA NUGENT <vhnugent@yahoo.com>

from Victoria Edouard (reply) re: "massive" anti- Aristide demonstrations and
pro-Aristide rally on Feb. 7th, 2004

  I witnessed the pro-Aristide rally on February 7, 2004. I was on a hilltop,
near Nazon I think, overlooking the intersection at Delmas and Airport Rd. Both
of these streets are 2-3 lanes wide in each direction up and down there. People
were shoulder to shoulder as far up and down each road as I could see. I have
never seen so many people in one place before. I attended K?naval in
Port-au-Prince in 2003 and at that time I thought I had never seen so many
people ? the rally on Feb. 7th was at least as many people. It appeared to be a
very festive, happy atmosphere. With the exception of the government television
channel in Haiti, there was absolutely no mention of that event on any radio
station or television station in Haiti that day or afterwards as far as I
know.

  In contrast, an anti-Aristide demonstration I witnessed in Port-au-Prince
within a week or so before or after this event had much buildup and discussion
in the media before and after the demonstration. From a ?safe? vantage point I
watched maybe several hundred demonstrators march by in a 10 or 15 minute time
frame tops. There were probably more people following and watching the
demonstrators than there were actual demonstrators. What impressed me most at
the time were the fancy BMW motorcycles and huge, square Mercedes Benz SUV?s
that swooped in ahead of the demonstrators to clear the street, I guess.





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