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<font size=3><br>
</font><font face="times" size=7><b><i>A March for Democracy <br>
</i></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=7 color="#990000">Haitian
Police Open Fire on Nonviolent
Demostrators</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=7> <br>
</b>By BILL QUIGLEY <br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3><i>Port-au-Prince,
Haiti <br>
</i></font><font face="verdana" size=7 color="#990000">O</font><font face="verdana" size=3>ne
year ago today, the elected government of Haiti, led by President
Jean Betrand Aristide, was forced out of office and replaced by
unlected people more satisfactory to business interests and the US,
France and Canada. <br><br>
Today there was a large nonviolent March for Democracy called for the
neighborhood of Bel-Air (Beautiful Air). I attended with Pere
Gerard Jean-Juste and others from St. Clare's Parish. We started
with prayers in the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in the
center of Bel Air. After prayers we joined the larger crowd outside
marching and singing through the streets of the old and quite poor
neighborhood. Thousands of people were walking and dancing to the
beat of drums, loudly chanting, "Bring Back Titi
(Aristide)!!!!" in Creole, French and English. <br><br>
Fr. Jean-Juste has become one of the main voices for democracy in Haiti
since his release from prison several weeks ago after 48 days in
jail with no charges. He was interviewed two dozen times by local
and international media during the walk with the crowd. It all
seemed like a peaceful unorganized mardi gras parade until I
noticed the Reuters correspondent was wearing a bullet proof vest.
MINUSTAH, the UN security presence was all around. The giant moving
party continued down Des Cesar Street. The street was packed from
side to side with people carrying signs, umbrellas, and handmade
cardboard posters all calling for the return of democracy and
Aristide. Neighborhood people joined in or clapped and danced from their
front steps. <br><br>
Suddenly, at the corner of Monsiegneur Guillot Street and Des Cesar,
there was a loud boom from very close by. People started screaming and
running. Another boom, then another. As people fled, I slipped on a pile
of fruit and tried deperately to hide behind a very small tree. As people
rushed past and dove into an opening in a concrete wall, the booms
continued. I then dove though the wall and hid behind a one foot wide
concrete pillar. The booms continued. People were down in the street. I
saw a big white official looking truck hurtling down the street
as the booms continued. Others saw police in black uniforms,
helmets, ski masks, and large guns shooting into the crowd. People
around me were huddled under stairs and crying. The group from
St. Clare's pulled me into a corner and we we rolled into a ball
until the booms stopped. <br><br>
Out on the street a man was down and unconscious. Fr. Jean-Juste knelt
over him and prayed. Down the street others were carrying injured people
on their backs. The crowd screamed that the police were coming back and
we ran down an alley into a small home. Children were screaming,
adults were crying, everyone was in fear. We waited, dirty and
drenched in sweat, until the growing UN presence made it safe to
leave. <br><br>
Early reports document several people shot, including journalists, at
least one killed. Others were beaten. Two men showed me where the police
wounded them. <br><br>
As we drove slowly out of the now deserted neighborhood, the faces of the
people on the porches who were so happy minutes before, were now somber,
many crying. <br><br>
As we rode back to his parish, Fr. Jean-Juste said: "The
Aristide supporters were such a big number, it was very difficult
to have a proper estimation of the crowd. The message is clear. Our
vote has been counted. It still must be counted. There is no other
way for Haiti to go forward but with the return of constitutional
order, the release of all political prisoners, and the physical
return of President Aristide." <br><br>
Though the march for democracy in Haiti was halted by police shooting
into the unarmed crowd, the people I talked to said their march for the
return of democracy in Haiti will continue. <br><br>
<b>Bill Quigley</b> is a law professor at Loyola University New
Orleans. He can be reached at
</font><font face="verdana" size=3 color="#184B81">quigley@loyno.edu</font><font face="verdana" size=3>
<br>
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