[News] Haiti: Tens of thousands Fanmi Lavalas supporters demonstrate

[News at freedomarchives.org]

AHP News - March 29, 2005- English translation (Unofficial)


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Tens of thousands of Fanmi Lavalas supporters demonstrate 
in  Port-au-Prince to commemorate the 18 years that the Constitution has 
been in effect
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Port-au-Prince,  March 29, 2005 (AHP)- Several tens of thousands of 
supporters of Fanmi Lavalas demonstrated this Tuesday in the populist 
district of Bel-Air to call for an end to the violations of the 
Constitution of 1987 and for the return of democratic government, which was 
interrupted, they said, by the sudden departure of President Aristide on 
February 29, 2004.

With their hands in the air displaying the Haitian flag and the 
Constitution, the demonstrators called for an end to the political 
persecution and the release of the prisoners of conscience.

However the marchers were not able to follow the planned route as MINUSTAH 
soldiers prevented them from marching to Constitution Square. UN tanks 
blocked all the streets that provide access to the Champ-de Mars.

Demonstrators accused the UN Mission of playing a double game. "On the one 
hand, they promise to provide protection for demonstrators and on the 
other, they prevent us from following our route", they complained.

Some  accused the UN soldiers of having dispersed the demonstrators by 
firing tear gas shells. They set fire to a jersey showing the colors of the 
Brazilian soccer team.

Two spokespersons for Lavalas activists, Lesly Gustave and Samba Boukman, 
also criticized the UN decision but praised the strong enthusiasm of tens 
of thousands of Lavalas supporters and sympathizers who took to the 
streets, they said, to say no to injustice and violence.

Mr. Gustave and Mr. Boukman described MINUSTAH's attitude as like a knife 
in the back, and said that the Lavalas supporters are more determined than 
ever to mobilize under the Constitution until their demands are met.  .

"They knew that we would turn out hundreds of thousands of Lavalas 
demonstrators along the Champ-de-Mars. That is why they blocked us from 
going there", they said. They invited the  activists to participate in a 
large demonstration on April 7.

They stressed that they will continue to press the police to provide 
explanations for the cases of summary executions of activists in the 
populist districts before they will be able to resume providing security 
for Lavalas demonstrators.

Other protesters promised to revise their strategy to avoid playing into 
the hands of the violators of the Constitution and the political 
adversaries of Lavalas by giving them a pretext.

  For his part, Brazilian General Augusto Heleno Ribeiro explained 
MINUSTAH's decision on the march routing as being due to the failure of the 
organizers of the demonstration to respect the basic principle of writing 
to the police to obtain an authorization for the demonstration.

According to General Ribeiro, MINUSTAH is there to accompany the police in 
its mission to serve and protect and not to act in its place.

"We can not allow an illegal demonstration to head toward 
the  Champ-de-Mars ", declared the Brazilian general.

The Champ-de-Mars is the where the presidential palace is located.

AHP March 29, 2005 12:20 PM

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  Thousands of Lavalas demonstrators march in Cap-Haitien and Hinche
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Cap-Haïtien, March 29, 2005- (AHP)- Several thousand Fanmi Lavalas 
supporters demonstrated Tuesday in the streets of Cap-Haitien in the North 
of Haiti to demand the return of constitutional government and an end to 
the political persecution.

The demonstrators chanted slogans hostile to the interim government and 
denounced its unconstitutional nature as well as what they said were its 
abuses and other excesses of power.

They said that the violence inflicted against them will not prevent them 
from remaining mobilized.

They announced plans for a demonstration on April 7 in the country's second 
city to continue to get across their demands including the return of 
constitutional government.

Thousands of Fanmi Lavalas demonstrators also protested peacefully in 
Hinche in the Central Plateau.

Many members of Fanmi Lavalas gathered as well in the region of Nippes to 
reflect upon the Constitution on the occasion of its 18th anniversary.

AHP March 29, 2005 2:20 PM

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