Posted on 02/07/2004 10:04:11 AM PST by sarcasm
GONAIVES, Haiti (AP) -- Under a hail of rocks, police pushed back into this city Saturday in a bid to retake it from rebels seeking to oust Haiti's embattled president.
About 150 heavily armed officers inched into the city from the main highway, aiming their rifles at the side of the road as protesters tossed stones. Sporadic gunfire rang out, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.
Rebels with the Gonaives Resistance Front took the city of 200,000 people Thursday after a five-hour gunbattle with police. At least seven people were killed and 20 wounded.
Militants said they wanted to draw the police into their stronghold in the seaside shantytown of Raboteau. They hid on side streets and crouched in doorways, many armed with rifles and pistols.
``If the battle turns against us, retreat,'' a militant commander called out to several other gunmen.
``Look, we're going to get them. We're going to draw them into a trap,'' said the commander, who refused to give his name.
The Gonaives Resistance Front once was allied with President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. But the group turned against Aristide last year, accusing his government of assassinating its leader.
Discontent has grown among Haiti's 8 million people since Aristide's party swept flawed legislative elections in 2000 and international donors froze hundreds of millions of dollars in aid.
It was unclear how many gunmen from the group intended to confront the police, but they had popular support.
``We have placed our trust in the Gonaives Resistance Front. If the police counterattack, they'll meet with stiff resistance,'' said Jean Roland, a 23-year-old resident who wasn't among the fighters.
On Friday, thousands of protesters marched onto the main highway leading to Gonaives, chanting ``Aristide must go! Too much blood has flowed!'' Some rode in a looted police truck, flaunting stolen police uniforms and weapons.
Former soldiers of Haiti's disbanded army carrying heavy weapons patrolled the streets in support of the uprising in Gonaives.
At the jail, where the attackers freed more than 100 prisoners, looters dislodged metal gates and bars. Stores and schools remained shut and severed telephone lines were strewn in streets covered with rubble.
Government spokesman Mario Dupuy called the attacks ``terrorist acts'' and said police would restore order in the city 70 miles northwest of Port-au-Prince, the capital.
More of Willard's LEGACY (puke, vomit, spit). And Kerry will do the exact same type of garbage - ONLY worse because he's, 'fought a war'.
Our Republic will go straight down the toilet -- in light-speed.
A Vote For Kerry (or non-vote for Bush) Is A Vote for U.N. Subjugation!
Police reinforcements fought bloody battles with gunmen as they tried to retake Haiti's fourth-largest city from rebels.
At least three police officers were killed in Gonaives and crowds mutilated the corpses.
One body was dragged through the street as a man swung at it with a machete. A woman cut off the officer's ear.
Another policeman was lynched and stripped to his shorts, and residents dropped a large rock on his corpse.
Rebels said they killed 14 police officers, Haitian radio stations reported, but the claim could not be confirmed.
The uprising appeared to be spreading as armed opponents of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide seized the police station in the west coast town of St Marc.
Militants have also attacked police stations and forced out police in at least five small towns near Gonaives, Haitian radio reports said.
The rebellion has not yet reached Port-au-Prince, the capital, where throngs of government supporters marched yesterday to mark the third anniversary of Aristide's second inauguration.
Anger has been brewing in Haiti since Aristide's party won flawed legislative elections in 2000.
The opposition refuses to join in any new vote unless Aristide resigns, which he refuses to do before his term ends in 2006.
At least 61 people have been killed in the Caribbean country since mid-September in clashes between police, government opponents and Aristide supporters.
Story filed: 08:14 Sunday 8th February 2004
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