PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- Gunshots erupted Sunday at a protest to demand that ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide be tried for corruption and fomenting violence. At least four demonstrators and a foreign journalist were killed.
Witnesses blamed Aristide militants, but that could not immediately be confirmed. The shooting occured as crowds gathered in front of the presidential National Palace.
Cameraman Ricardo Ortega of Spain's Antena 3 television network was shot in the stomach and died at Port-au-Prince's private Canape Vert Hospital.
Blood covered the floor there as the emergency room quickly filled with more than 30 injured people.
Among them was Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel photographer Michael Laughlin, 37. He was shot in the shoulder and face but was in stable condition at the hospital.
Witnesses said they saw Aristide supporters shooting at the crowd in front of the National Palace, and they complained that peacekeepers did nothing to prevent the violence.
"The peacekeepers were nowhere near where the shooting was," said Almil Costel, 31, who was shot twice in the left shoulder.
French commander Col. Daniel Leplatois defended the peacekeepers. "We're not able to secure the lives of all of the demonstrators," he said.
After the shooting, a truck with speakers bolted to its frame paraded around the palace, blasting music. One man speaking over a truck loudspeaker shouted at the U.S. Marines: "People are dying every day in this country. You have to do something about it."
Haitian police and U.S. and French troops who had been guarding the march route began patrolling the area of the shooting to bring it back under control.
Aristide supporters had planned a joint demonstration Sunday but said they were offered no protection by the peacekeepers and were afraid of reprisal attacks from anti-Aristide activists. Their protest was rescheduled for Monday, though organizers said they were trying to determine how much security they could depend on.
"The Americans are only here to protect those who helped oust Aristide," said Ednar Ducoste, 23, an Aristide supporter. "If we had guns, we would be fighting against them right now."
Aristide released a statement Sunday through government officials in the Central African Republic, where he is in exile, saying he was "well-looked after" by his hosts and will personally address reporters at an unspecified time. Aristide has said the United States forced him from power, something U.S. officials deny.
Peacekeepers have removed barricades in central neighborhoods but have avoided Aristide strongholds, like La Saline and Cite Soleil.
"They come here with their missiles, and they do nothing for us," said Leo Bertrand, 27. "They kidnapped our president, and now they're here to hold us down."
Earlier during Sunday's march in Port-au-Prince, demonstrators tore down a billboard featuring Aristide's face and the slogan: "Haiti is the mother of freedom," then carried it to the palace and set it on fire. Military helicopters circled overhead as black smoke billowed from the front gate.
Rebel leader Guy Philippe was hoisted onto supporters' shoulders as they chanted "Guy Philippe - hero! Aristide - zero!"
Philippe, a former Aristide police chief accused of coup-plotting, reiterated Sunday that he had no political aspirations. On Wednesday, he said his fighters would lay down their arms. There were no weapons in sight Sunday.
There were also cheers for Louis-Jodel Chamblain, an ex-soldier convicted in the killings of Aristide supporters. Like film stars, both Chamblain and Philippe were surrounded by autograph-seekers.
Rebels have refused to give up their weapons, despite Philippe's pledge. Marines have faced hostility - so far, only shouted insults - from armed Aristide militants furious over their leader's ouster and what they call "an occupation army."
Sunday's anti-Aristide crowd also took up a cry of "Help, yes. Occupation, no!"
It swelled quickly to thousands who ran and danced through the city, chanting, "Try Aristide! Jail Aristide!"
Businessman Liastaud Michel, 56, called the event "a victory march ... to celebrate. We want things to change."
A recently appointed seven-member "Council of Sages" met for a third day Sunday in the capital to choose a new prime minister. Officials said they hoped to have a decision by Tuesday.
One possibility is Lt. Gen. Herard Abraham, probably the only Haitian army officer to voluntarily surrender power to a civilian. Abraham succeeded ousted Gen. Prosper Avril in 1990 and immediately handed power to Haiti's Supreme Court justice. That allowed the transition that led to Haiti's first free elections in December 1990, which Aristide won in a landslide.
Another choice is Smarck Michel, a businessman who was Aristide's prime minister in 1994-1995 but resigned over differences in economic policy.
The U.S. Marine presence is the third American military intervention in Haiti, which has suffered under civilian and military dictators since a slave rebellion won independence from France in 1804.
The United States sent troops in 1915 who occupied the country for 25 years. In 1994, 20,000 troops came to end a brutal military dictatorship, halt an exodus of boat people to Florida and restore Aristide, who had been ousted in 1991.
Aristide was a wildly popular slum priest when he became Haiti's first freely elected leader in 1990. But his popularity diminished after he was re-elected in 2000. Haitians said he failed to improve their lives, condoned corruption and used police and armed supporters to attack his political opponents.
---
Associated Press writer Joseph B. Frazier contributed to this report from Cap-Haitien.
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/H/HAITI?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME