Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Haiti slum repels police amid angry protests

Haiti Information Project | 16.10.2004 05:43 | Indymedia | Repression | Social Struggles | World

The morgue at the [Port au Prince] General Hospital issued an emergency call this afternoon stating that there was no longer space for new corpses and it had reached full
capacity.

October 15, 2004

Haiti slum repels police amid angry protests

Haiti Information Project (HIP)

Port au Prince, Haiti(HIP)- Armed units of the Haitian
National Police (PNH) entered the pro-Ariside slum of
Bel Air as thousands of residents took to streets to
demand the return of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Marchers defied a shutdown of the capital by the
business community and threats issued by the former
military. Heavy gunfire erupted as the police
reportedly fired shots to disperse the crowd. The
police were then forced to withdraw as unidentified
gunmen returned fire from surrounding buildings in a
thunderous volley.

Haiti has been rocked by violence since September 30th
after police opened fire on unarmed demonstrators
demanding the return of President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide and condemning political persecution of his
Lavalas political party. Aristide was ousted last
February 29th amid charges he was kidnapped by U.S.
Marines and is living as guest in the Republic of
South Africa.

Two demonstrators were killed on Sept. 30th and the
U.S.-backed government claimed that the headless
bodies of three policemen were later discovered. The
identities of the headless policemen were released at
a funeral held for them earlier this week. The bodies
of the headless men were reportedly cremated before
journalists and human rights groups were given an
opportunity to perform an independent examination of
the corpses to confirm the government’s claims.

In a statement portraying Aristide’s Family Lavalas
party as terrorists, the Haitian Chamber of Commerce
called for a National Day of Reflection today asking
for all schools and businesses to stay closed and for
all residents of Port au Prince to stay in their
homes. The U.S. Embassy closed its doors as well in a
gesture meant to symbolize their approval of the
business community’s initiative. Several U.S. citizens
expressed their anger at the closure stating that it
“left them defenseless” in the event they were
required to evacuate Haiti in the face of mounting
violence.

Tensions heightened in the capital as several
pro-Aristide slums announced their intention to defy
the shutdown and protest on the 10th anniversary of
the ousted president’s return to Haiti in 1994.
Aristide was overthrown by Haiti’s military in a
brutal coup in September 1991and returned to Haiti on
October 15, 1994 after Clinton committed 20,000 U.S.
troops to “Operation Restore Democracy.”

Aristide supporters had braced themselves for today’s
attacks after the U.S.-backed government and United
Nation’s forces allowed armed units of the former
military to enter the capital unchallenged over the
past two days. This has led to charges by Lavalas
representatives of a “second coup” and UN complicity
in allowing the former military to return to power in
Haiti. Two trucks of former military opened fire on
residents at Delmas 2 in the slum of La Saline this
morning and could be seen setting up roadblocks on
Route Frere.

Today’s violence comes two days after the arrest of a
Catholic priest, Father Gerard Jean-Juste, the
government accused of trafficking in weapons and
harboring gunmen in his parish. Human rights
organizations and legal experts have condemned the
arrest as “arbitrary” and an effort by the authorities
to repress political dissent.
Earlier this week, UN soldiers and Haitian police
conducted numerous joint raids in several poor
neighborhoods in the capital known for their support
of Aristide. Hundreds have been arrested yet few
weapons have been confiscated as the violence
continues for a second straight week.

The morgue at the General Hospital issued an emergency
call this afternoon stating that there was no longer
space for new corpses and it had reached full
capacity.

=====
The Haiti Information Project (HIP) is a non-profit alternative news service
providing coverage and analysis of breaking developments in Haiti.

Contact:  haitiinformationproject@yahoo.com

Haiti Information Project
- Homepage: http://www.auto_sol.tao.ca

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech