Protesters Attack Police in Haiti; 1 Dead
Anti-Government Protesters Attack Police Station in Western Haiti, Leaving One Dead, Three Hurt

The Associated Press

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti Oct. 26 — Anti-government protesters loyal to a slain gang leader attacked a western Haiti police station, and gunfire killed a girl on her bicycle and wounded the police chief and two officers, a government spokesman said Sunday.

Followers of slain strongman Amiot Metayer launched Saturday night's surprise attack, government spokesman Mario Dupuy said.

As the siege carried on into Sunday, a girl riding a bicycle nearby was hit by a stray bullet and killed, Dupuy said. No arrests were reported.

The attack was the latest in more than four weeks of upheaval in Gonaives that started when Metayer's bullet-riddled body was found Sept. 22.

His followers, once loyal to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, have accused the government of involvement in the killing, saying the strongman had damaging information on the president.

The government denied involvement, and Aristide refused demands that he resign.

The protests left at least 10 people dead and 34 injured with bullet wounds in Gonaives. Dupuy said the police station raid was led by fugitive Jean Tatoune, one of 150 inmates who escaped when Metayer's followers drove a tractor through the prison walls to free their leader in August.

Meanwhile, in Haiti's second-largest city of Cap-Haitien, Aristide partisans set up flaming tire barricades Friday night to block opposition supporters from entering the northern city and force an opposition alliance to cancel its protest Sunday.

The North District Front composed of opposition parties and citizens groups planned to hold the march as opposition leaders ended three days of strategy talks.

The opposition, which claims the last elections in 2000 were rigged, has refused to participate until the government meets its demands to disarm its partisans and reform the police.


photo credit and caption:

Camille Marcelus, right, Haitian National Police Director of the country's Artibonite Department, is seen in this September 27, 2003, file photo folding the Haitian flag with an unidentified anti-riot officer, left, after it was taken down in Gonaives, Haiti. Marcelus was shot and injured on Sunday, Oct. 26, in a shoot-out with members of the "Cannibal Army" gang which once took to the streets to support Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide but has been in revolt against the government, holding the city virtually under seige and calling for Aristide's resignation, ever since their leader Amiot Metayer was found murdered over a month ago. Local Radio Etincelle reported that Marcelus and one other policeman were injured in the 15-minute shoot-out, and that an unidentified 14-year-old girl was shot and killed as she was coming out of church. (AP Photo/Daniel Morel)

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