Four
policemen killed at start of Haiti carnival
07 Feb 2005
Source:
Reuters
By
Joseph Guyler Delva
PORT-AU-PRINCE,
Haiti, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Gunmen attacked a police patrol and killed four policemen
in the Haitian capital and at least four other people were shot dead as the country's
three-day carnival celebration began, police and witnesses said on Monday.
The
killings highlighted continuing instability nearly a year after ex-President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide fled into exile, pushed out by an armed revolt and U.S. pressure. More
than 240 people have died in political and gang violence since early September.
The
four officers, who had been assigned to protect a music band as it headed to join
the main downtown parade, were killed in the residential Clercine neighborhood
late on Sunday, not far from a base for U.N. peacekeepers, said police chief Leon
Charles on Monday.
Two
other police officers were wounded, he said.
A
police spokeswoman, Jessie Coicou, said the attackers had been identified as former
members
of the military, which was disbanded a decade ago. Other police sources said the
attackers wore army uniforms and were riding a green pick-up truck.
The
leader of the former military, Remissainthe Ravix, said in a statement on a local
radio station that no former soldiers were involved.
Former
troops, now a rag-tag rebel force that pushed out Aristide, still hold sway in
parts of the country of 8 million people.
At
least four other people were shot dead late on Sunday or early on Monday. Witnesses
saw the bodies of three men and a woman lying on the street in downtown Port-au-Prince
on Monday morning. It was not known who shot them or why.
SHOTS
FIRED
In
other incidents, shots were fired near several points of the carnival route late
on Sunday, panicking crowds taking part in Haiti's big annual party, a colorful
festival of masks and drums in the impoverished Caribbean country.
The
shooting appeared to be mostly aimed at scaring people since it was not necessarily
directed at the crowd, said Coicou, the police spokeswoman. Hospital sources said
at least 10 people were wounded.
Many
of the shots came from Bel-Air, a stronghold of Aristide supporters where there
is still anger at his ouster. Several armed groups from pro-Aristide slums had
threatened to disturb carnival festivities.
Hundreds
of Haitian policemen and about 600 Brazilian peacekeepers were deployed in the
capital to protect people going to the pre-Lenten party that ends on Mardi Gras,
U.N. mission spokesman Damian Onzes-Cardona told Reuters on Monday.
The
Brazilian-led U.N. peacekeeping force numbers about 6,000 soldiers and 1,400 police
nationwide.
Crowds
seemed smaller than usual for the start of carnival. It was not clear whether
this was because people were afraid, or protesting.
Some
Aristide supporters said they were not in the mood for carnival, complaining many
of their relatives and friends were being jailed arbitrarily -- which the interim
government of Prime Minister Gerard Latortue has repeatedly denied.
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