Haiti Vows Crackdown on Anniversary of End of Coup
Saturday, October 16, 2004 at 03:36AM
TheSpook
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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