Haiti has only 5,000 police officers and those manning outlying towns often are outnumbered and outgunned by insurgents.
"The population, which is cut off completely from other parts of the country, is finding itself in a very risky, very dangerous situation," Prime Minister Yvon Neptune said in the capital, Port-au-Prince, which has been unaffected by unrest to the north.
Rebels lit flaming tire barricades early Saturday outside Gonaives and patrolled with rifles amid rumors police were planning to counterattack.
Opposition leaders planned a mass protest in Port-au-Prince yesterday. On Thursday, Aristide militants crushed a planned anti-government demonstration, stoning opponents and blocking the protest route. Protests have been steady since mid-September.
Opposition politicians refuse to participate in new elections unless Aristide steps down, and the rebels say they will lay down their weapons only when he is ousted.
Many who once backed Aristide have turned on him as poverty deepens. Gas and food prices have more than doubled in Gonaives and more than half the city's population has fled mounting violence in recent months.
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