19881: (Chamberlain) Thousands of Aristide supporters pour into streets (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Ibon Villelabeitia and Jim Loney

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, March 5 (Reuters) - Thousands of outraged
supporters of exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide poured out of Haiti's
slums and into the streets on Friday, marching on the U.S. Embassy to
denounce the "occupation" of their homeland and demand Aristide's return.
     Hurling slurs at U.S. Marines and calling President George W. Bush a
"terrorist," a crowd estimated at more than 10,000 materialized in the
capital, seething with anger at Aristide's flight to Africa five days ago
after a bloody rebellion and U.S. pressure.
     "Bush terrorist! Bush terrorist!," chanted the crowd, many of them
waving Haitian flags and wearing T-shirts bearing photos of Aristide, as
they passed a contingent of battle-equipped U.S Marines guarding the
embassy.
     Hundreds held up their hands with five fingers extended, shouting
"Aristide five years," the rallying cry of his supporters who wanted him to
finish his five-year term in office. U.S. troops watched impassively from
the rooftop.
     The massive protest came as U.S. and French troops joined Haitian
police on patrol in the teeming capital. U.S. military vehicles mounted
with machine guns and missile launchers rumbled through the streets,
sending a message to rebels and Aristide militants to lay down their arms.
     Supporters of Aristide, a former Roman Catholic priest whose fiery
oratory from the pulpit helped galvanize a popular revolt that dislodged
the Duvalier family dictatorship in the 1980s, had been relatively quiet
this week, shocked by the ouster of Haiti's first freely elected president.
     They had stayed largely in Cite Soleil, La Saline and the other slums
of Port-au-Prince as the armed rebels who helped push Aristide from office
roamed the streets, hunting for "chimeres," the most militant of Aristide's
supporters.
     But as the rebels withdrew from the city following a pledge from their
leader, former police chief Guy Philippe, to lay down their arms, Aristide
partisans vowed to demonstrate daily for the return of their president.
     They blamed Haiti's wealthy elite, Bush and French President Jacques
Chirac for what they called the "foreign occupation" of Haiti.
     "The bourgeoisie joined with the international community to occupy
Haiti and get rid of President Aristide," one demonstrator screamed. "The
bourgeoisie never did anything for us, the masses. Now they took away our
president."
     "If Aristide doesn't come back, life will be hell here."
     Five days after Aristide was ousted by a bloody rebellion, a new
tripartite council made up of people chosen by the government, Aristide's
political foes and foreign nations went to work.
     Aristide's Minister of Haitians Living Abroad, Leslie Voltaire, was
named by the government. The political opposition Democratic Platform
picked Paul Denis, a former senator, and the international community chose
Adama Guindo, the United Nations resident coordinator.
     The council will select a seven member "Council of Wise Men" within a
week to pick a new prime minister and begin the process of establishing a
new government.
     Haiti's legislature has been largely defunct since early January. Only
a few senators have time left in their terms.
     Haitian and foreign officials have been struggling with the process of
installing interim president Boniface Alexandre, who according to the
constitution must be ratified by the legislature. It was still uncertain on
Friday when a formal swearing in would be held at the palace.
     U.S., French, Chilean and Canadian troops in Haiti numbered about
2,000, according to the commanders of the multinational force approved by
the United Nations to restore order after days of looting and shooting
following Aristide's flight into exile in the Central African Republic on
Sunday.
     More than 100 people died in the armed revolt that began on Feb. 5
when an anti-Aristide gang took over the northwestern city of Gonaives.
     Aristide said from his African exile that he was kidnapped. The U.S.
government has denied the allegation but residents of Aristide strongholds
believe it.
     In the pro-Aristide Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Bellair, where
glass and debris litters the streets and the stench of sewage hangs in the
air, residents said foreign troops should help protect them from gunmen
that raid the area nightly.
     They say rebels have been conducting reprisal raids.
     "At 6 p.m. we all have to go and find a hole to hide," said Hubert
Louis, 31, referring to the nightly curfew. "If the foreign troops want to
show they want to support the people, they should protect us from the
soldiers who are chasing us."

   (Additional reporting by Joseph Guyler Delva)