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President Aristide Calls for Calm and Order to a Crowd of 100,000, While Police Recapture Key Urban Areas PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, Feb. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Haiti's President, Jean
Bertrand Aristide, spoke to a crowd estimated to be over 100,000, on Saturday,
February 7, and called for every citizen to exercise calm and constitutional
order in an effort to move the country toward democratic elections later this
year. The demonstrations, which were orderly and peaceful, took place amid an
escalating environment of violence emanating from the opposition parties in
Haiti. "We salute and agree on the need in any democratic country for an opposition but we reject with all our force an armed opposition terrorizing the population," exclaimed President Aristide. The president was referring to the attack and capture of a police station in the town of Gonaives on February 5, in which approximately 20 people were killed, including police officers. Following the attack, the armed militants used radio stations owned by leaders of the opposition, such as Radio Metropole, to announce the slaying of innocent police and bystanders. In two other urban areas of St. Marc and Grand Goave, where armed opposition forces attempted to take police offices in a similar manner, a contingent of Haitian National Police was able to repel the attackers and retake those areas. During an inauguration of four new public parks on Saturday, President Aristide reiterated his invitation to sit down with opposition leaders and negotiate a resolution to the crisis. Despite the opposition's continued refusal to initiate a dialogue process with the Government of Haiti, President Aristide nevertheless "encourage[d] all Haitians to speak but to speak the truth." He called on the general population also to assist the police in providing security in demonstrations and to obey and uphold the rule of law. "When there are too many demonstrations for the police to properly protect, then I hope that every Haitian will help ensure the protection of those who have a right to demonstrate," said President Aristide to the crowd. "We need peace." In referring to past incidents where violence was meted out in demonstrations, the President condemned violence of any kind and particularly condemned the events that occurred on December 5, when clashes between students became violent and required police intervention. "We will not tolerate this kind of behavior and there will be an investigation to find those responsible," the president continued. Over the past few weeks several opposition demonstrations have been held and reflected far fewer numbers of participants than Saturday's pro-government march. Yet most opposition sponsored events have turned quickly violent. In sharp contrast, Saturday's march was marked by its peaceful, non-violent tone and seemed to be designed as much to show support for their government as it was a call for Haitians and the international community to come together to help continue the democratization process begun over a decade ago. At that time, the elected government was interrupted by a military coup d'etat after only seven months in office. Global Market Solutions is an international public relations and communications firm and a registered foreign agent of the Government of Haiti. Source: Global Market Solutions
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