28020: (news) Chamberlain: 3 killed, dozens injured in Haiti carnival (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Feb 28 (Reuters) - At least three people died
and more than 50 have been injured during carnival festivities in Haiti,
which has been plagued by political and gang violence, doctors and
witnesses said on Tuesday.
     Doctors at the general hospital in the capital said a man and two
women died on Monday along the parade route in Port-au-Prince.
     A 19-year-old man was killed when a float carrying a musical group ran
him over. A woman died when she fell from a float and was crushed, and
another woman died after being hit with a piece of a broken bottle,
according to witnesses.
     At least 50 people have been injured since the annual festival began
on Sunday.
     Hundreds of people have died in political and gang violence in Haiti
in the last two years.
     In the months leading up to the Feb. 7 election, gunfire in the slums
and kidnappings for ransom were a daily occurrence in the capital. But the
country avoided a feared explosion of violence in connection with the vote,
its first since former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide was deposed by an
armed revolt in February 2004.
     Haiti's interim government disbursed nearly $2 million to finance the
popular annual pre-Lenten carnival.




 REUTERS