Tens of thousands of protesters called for Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's resignation on Sunday in a peaceful demonstration through the streets of Port-au-Prince, but violence still rocked the country this weekend.

Anti-riot police watched as demonstrators, some with their children in tow, demanded Aristide's resignation and urged the government to free political prisoners.

Andre Apaid, an opposition leader, told AFP that "we have to demand that we stop frightening the Haitian people".

The Caribbean Community (Caricom), a 15-nation group trying to solve the Haitian crisis, "will finally understand that all Haitians want Mr. Aristide's resignation," Apaid said.

Upon his return from Jamaica on Saturday, Aristide said he would consider overturning police measures restricting protests in the capital to a seafront square near city hall.

"Everybody has the right to demonstrate as long as everyone respects the law and works with police for the organisation of these demonstrations," Aristide said late on Saturday after meeting with Jamaican Prime Minister Percival Patterson, the Caricom president.

Citing security concerns, police on Tuesday restricted protests in Port-au-Prince to the Place d'Italie square.

The opposition, which has stepped up calls for Aristide's resignation, denounced the police restrictions as "unconstitutional".

Anti-Aristide demonstrators have clashed frequently with pro-government groups and police, and fresh violence this weekend took the death toll higher.

Aristide, a former priest who had served a five-year term in the 1990s, was re-elected in 2000. Observers and opposition parties, however, claim Aristide's party rigged the vote.

The Haitian president also announced on Saturday that he would release in late March a schedule for the creation of an electoral council and special advisory panel.

Caricom urged Aristide to consider a plan by Haitian church leaders to create a special advisory council comprised of political parties, religious organisations and human rights groups. The panel would help organise elections.

Violence continues

Meanwhile violence continued this weekend. An eyewitness told AFP that two people were killed and five were injured during a police operation in Gonaives, in northwest Haiti, overnight on Friday and Saturday.

With the killings, the death toll in Gonaives rose to at least 49. Another 99 people have been injured in Gonaives since September 23, when the anti-government Artibonite Revolutionary Resistance Front took arms.

A police officer was killed overnight on Friday and Saturday in Miragoane, in the southwest, as he intervened in a clash that broke out at a funeral attended by government loyalists.

Citing civil unrest, the United States decided on Friday to reduce its diplomatic presence in Haiti.

AFP

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