March Demanding Aristide Return Turns Deadly
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Gunfire erupted as Haitians calling for the return of ousted President Aristide marched near the presidential palace yesterday, killing at least three police officers as hundreds scattered to safety in side streets.
Demonstrators shot and killed three officers, and were believed to have kidnapped a fourth, the justice minister, Bernard Gousse, said. No deaths were reported among the marchers.
The violence came after armed rebels who toppled Mr. Aristide in February challenged U.N. peacekeepers at the entrance to the flood-ravage city of Gonaives, in a litmus test of a country where power appears to be up for grabs.
Yesterday’s violence ratcheted up tension in the country reeling from Tropical Storm Jeanne. Rescuers have recovered more than 1,550 bodies in northwest Haiti, most in the third-largest city of Gonaives, and some 900 are missing, according to government officials.
