Posted on 06/05/2005 1:22:45 PM PDT by BenLurkin
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - A slum-based human rights group demanded an investigation Sunday into reports that Haitian police shot and killed at least four people and burned 12 homes during raids to root out gang members in a slum filled with supporters of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. "We deplore these actions and demand they be investigated," said Jean Yves Altemar, a member of Collective Reflection for the Defense of Human Rights, a group that documents rights abuses in Port-au-Prince slums.
The group also accused U.N. peacekeepers of doing nothing to stop police from setting fire to cinderblocks shacks and opening fire on civilians in Saturday's raids in Bel Air. "They were present during this operation while the police were burning houses and killing people," Altemar said.
Brazilian troops provided back-up and secured perimeters during the operation, while Chinese and Jordanian police worked "more closely" with the Haitian police, said David Beer, a Canadian who heads the U.N. civilian police force in Haiti. U.N. officials were investigating allegations that police burned homes, Beer said, declining to comment further.
Jean-Francois Vezina, a U.N. civilian police spokesman, said Haitian police killed two people and arrested 35 others, but had no other details. He said peacekeepers fired no shots during the operation.
Residents said they saw police kill at least four people, taking three bodies away in ambulances. Merite Merilien, the director of the city morgue, refused to say how many bodies were brought in Saturday.
The 7,400-member U.N. peacekeeping force has come under pressure - most recently from U.S. Ambassador James Foley - to be more aggressive in helping police combat armed gangs loyal to Aristide, who was toppled in a February 2004 armed uprising. But Aristide sympathizers accuse peacekeepers of turning a blind eye to police atrocities against them.
Police spokeswoman Gessy Coicou did not return repeated phone calls seeking comment.
A pair of flip-flops lay in a pool of blood in a Bel Air alleyway covered in several bullets casings. Neighbors said they saw police kill three people and take the bodies away in ambulances. Several blocks away, a vendor pointed to a pool of blood that had been covered with sand, saying police shot a man there.
An AP reporter saw at least six scorched cinderblock homes. Altemar said police burned at least 12.
Manes Gustave, a 57-year-old tailor, said he was a few blocks from his home when he saw police in customary black uniforms and hoods entering his neighborhood. When he returned home, he found his door hanging off its hinges and his neighbor's home in flames.
Police "shoot people, beat people, burn houses," Gustave said, standing beside metal sheets and charred wood that had been his neighbor's home. "They think everyone in Bel Air is a criminal."
Since the "rights group" is based in a slum, you'd think they'd have the most expertise to investigate something that happened in a slum. Besides, it must be a nice slum that they are based in if they are able to fax out press releases.
Does Haiti even have a government anymore?
Haitian slums probably the worst in this hemisphere.
Really heart wrenching but nearly hopeless.
A slum-based human rights group
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