Haiti Vows Crackdown on Anniversary of End of Coup

Haiti's U.S.-backed government vowed on Friday to crush "terrorist" supporters of exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide as gunfire crackled in the capital on the 10th anniversary of the end of a coup against him. Police took up positions in streets deserted because of fears that two weeks of violence were about to spiral out of control and surrounded the Port-au-Prince slum of Bel-Air where Aristide supporters gathered. Gunfire erupted from the slum but it was unclear who was shooting. Police kept their distance from Aristide backers marking a decade since he was returned to power by U.S. Marines following three years of military rule. Members of Aristide's Lavalas Party demanded the release of imprisoned allies, ex-soldiers who helped topple him continued to trickle into the capital and the interim government said it was giving police unspecified special powers to fight "terrorism." [more ]

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