| Posted on Sun, Feb. 15, 2004 |
Anti-Aristide protesters clash with police, president's supporters BY TIM COLLIE South Florida Sun-Sentinel PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - (KRT) - A demonstration against Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide degenerated into a rock-throwing melee Sunday after organizers lost control of thousands of protesters. A disagreement over the route of the march provoked hundreds of angry anti-Aristide protesters to converge on a major commercial avenue that had not been approved by police as a march route. They then skirmished with police and pro-Aristide partisans. At one point, opposition leader Andy Apaid was walking by himself blocks away from followers who were being attacked by Aristide supporters and policemen trying to quell violence by both sides. Apaid insisted on marching down the police-approved route even though no one followed him. But many opposition marchers said they felt they should be able to march further down Route de Delmas, even though their leaders had not agreed to it in negotiations with police. The march began down Delmas but was then supposed to turn down a winding side street to avoid blocks that had often been the scenes of previous protest violence with so-called chimeres, staunch radical supporters of Aristide who often harass the opposition. The failed march marked another setback by an urban opposition group, the Democratic Platform, that has been stymied since fighting between the government and rebels broke out in Gonaives, Haiti's fourth largest city, two weeks ago. Since then violent demonstrations have spread to 10 other Haitian cities and towns and reports by Haitian media and human-rights groups have put deaths as high as 50. The group, an umbrella organization of political, business and student groups, contends Aristide should step down over contested 2000 legislative elections that were swept by the Lavalas Party. Aristide has refused, despite international criticism and growing violence in Haiti among more radical opponents of his government in many parts of Haiti. Because Delmas is a major thoroughfare with wide avenues, it was the route of choice among angry marchers chanting slogans demanding Aristide's resignation. By noon Sunday, two hours into the demonstration, shooting broke out and police began lobbing tear gas at demonstrators who were hurling large rocks and garbage into the street to make barricades. There were no immediate reports of injuries, a police spokesman said. Elsewhere, two Dominican soldiers were killed on the Dominican border at Dajabon on Saturday and their weapons were taken from them. It was unclear who was responsible for the killings, but in recent days a force of 20 men led by exiled paramilitary leader Louis-Jodel Chamblain crossed the border, The Associated Press reported. Sunday's march began with a largely peaceful crowd of several thousand people who descended down Route de Delmas from Place Boyer, a small park in the middle class city of Petionville just above Haiti's capital of Port-au-Prince. Apaid and other organizers had agreed to a march route of several miles snaking down hillside streets above the capital. "I have to keep my word, and this is the route that we agreed upon with the police," said Apaid, who had a Haitian flag draped around his shoulders. "We are a nonviolent group and we have to keep our word. But I can understand that the base, the younger people in the opposition, feel they should have the right to where they want." But the younger, more militant marchers declined to follow Apaid and made their way further down Delmas until rocks began landing in the crowd. Police riot teams responded by firing tear gas canisters and shooting warning shots into the air. "The government wanted us to go down this side street because they know that will cut off people and minimize the march," said Alex Maurice, 26, an economics student at Haiti's national university. "They squeeze the protesters and make us look smaller. But the people want to march down Delmas, where everyone can see and join us." Haitian police authorities called the demonstration chaotic and blamed Apaid and other organizers for losing control of the crowd. Several people were arrested for trying to erect barricades in Delmas, police said, but they could not determine whose side they were on during the march. "It clearly wasn't planned well and that was the problem. I don't see how that is our fault," said Michael Lucius, general inspector with the national police. "Today what happened is there was simply a lack of leadership at the level of the organizers. We set up a route and they refused to follow it." Rebels control Gonaives and several small towns, but their violent tactics have prompted opposition leaders to distance themselves from the fray. But the largely young, male crowd that marched Sunday praised the rebels in Gonaives and even called for their help in Haiti's capital city. "Hello, hello, hello Gonaives," several dozen protesters chanted at one point, "Can't you see our blood is flowing. We are in danger here." But opposition leaders have insisted that they have no links with the rebels in Gonaives. Leaders, though, have said they believe that the rebels do have the right to bear arms against the violent tactics of Aristide's government, which originally armed gangs to quell the opposition. "I'm not interested in what is happening in Gonaives right now; I'm concerned with what is happening in Port-au-Prince," said Charles Baker, an opposition leader with the Group of 184, a coalition of business, trade and grass-roots groups aligned against Aristide. "Every night there is violence here in Port-au-Prince. Just this week six of our supporters were killed in Cite Soleil. That is the real issue. "Today, we had problems because we could not agree on a route with the base of the movement, who are very emotional and wanted to march on. But we will schedule another march. That's what we do, we march." But other opposition leaders said growing anger may force them to schedule a general strike and shut down the country. "People are getting desperate and they want change - not violent change, but change," said Montes Joseph, a trade union leader. "We're seriously thinking about asking business leaders not to order more goods, to close their businesses, to shut down the country. That may have to happen soon if this current situation continues much longer." By late afternoon Sunday, Delmas had been largely cleared of debris and was crowded with traffic and throngs of shoppers. --- © 2004 South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Visit the Sun-Sentinel on the World Wide Web at http://www.sun-sentinel.com Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

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