Haitian riot police fired stinging tear gas at thousands of rock-throwing protesters on Friday as a civil demonstration was overpowered by throngs of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's supporters.
Demonstrators scattered as tear gas canisters fell, and shots rang out in the crowd. No one was reported wounded. At least two people were injured and police arrested 30.
Civic groups had planned the protest to urge social change. But more than 8,000 Aristide partisans fanned out in the capital and corralled them into a tiny section of Port-au-Prince's gritty streets.
PHOTO: AFP
Police separated the groups and fired tear gas when some protesters lobbed rocks at each other.
"We want a change and we want a better tomorrow, but we also want to keep Aristide," said Jean Robert, 36, waving a picture of Haiti's embattled leader.
Tension has grown as Aristide struggles to break an impasse with an opposition coalition that is refusing to participate in elections unless he steps down. Countries including the US are refusing aid to Haiti's government until Aristide holds elections to repair flawed balloting in May 2000 legislative elections.
A coalition civic groups is also demanding widespread changes, including freedom of assembly.
Before the demonstration could even begin, dozens of the civil leaders -- including many vocal critics of Aristide -- were arrested when police stopped a trailer carrying a stage for the protest, said Andy Apaid, a coalition coordinator.
"Aristide made a choice today, a choice against democracy, and society must draw the conclusions," Apaid said.
He said police found three guns on the trailer and arrested the leaders for allegedly keeping weapons illegally. But Apaid said they had permits for the guns and that the charges were a pretext to detain the group.
Police, who have been criticized in the past for preventing anti-government protests, were vigilant on Friday in guarding both camps of protesters. Still, many civil leaders were kept from the demonstration during exhaustive vehicle searches.
"The government has deliberately obstructed our right to assemble," said Lyonel Trouillot, a novelist and playwright.
Despite losing pockets of support, Aristide has maintained popularity in Port-au-Prince, where the former slum priest rose to power. Many of his supporters criticize the opposition and the civil groups for being from Haiti's "light-skinned" and privileged upper class.
The civil groups, however, represent 184 organizations.
"They have done nothing for the people. That's why we blocked them," said Yves Derisine, 39, a plumber and Aristide supporter. "The only right they have to speak is the right to speak for the majority."
The crowd chanted "Aristide for another five years," holding photos of the president and Haitian flags.
Aristide has said he intends to served out his term, which ends in 2006, and has defended his government, saying it has made efforts toward security and progress despite many obstacles.
A series of anti-government demonstrations have been staged over the past two months to criticize deepening poverty and what protesters say is the government's failure to ensure security.
Clashes during those protests have left more than a dozen dead and scores wounded.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing