haitians protesting haiti president

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Haiti protesters demand removal of President Preval



Police in Haiti's capital have fired tear gas as more than 1,000 protesters rallied to call for President Rene Preval to step down.

The protest was called in Port-au-Prince by opposition groups angry at what they say is Mr Preval's plan to stay beyond his term.

There are concerns elections due by next February may be delayed because of records lost in January's earthquake.

The quake killed up to 230,000 people and left one million homeless.

'Holding onto power'

The BBC's Nick Davis in Port-au-Prince says some are concerned that the president, who has just been granted 96 more days in office by parliament because of the emergency, is holding on to power.

Many electoral records were lost in the quake and many civil servants were killed but opponents say it is still unconstitutional to delay the poll.

Our correspondent says the scenes at the protest were initially more party-like, as protesters from every section of society arrived to call for the president to step down.

The majority of the crowd were peaceful but in some places the situation proved more tense as demonstrators became more angry with the police, our correspondent says.

Some called for the return of exiled former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

One protester, Herve Santilus, told Associated Press: "[Preval] is profiting from this disaster in order to stay in power."

Officers eventually used tear gas and fired in the air above demonstrators, who were throwing stones.

Our correspondent says the protesters finally drifted away but promised to be back on Tuesday.

He says the mood is that of frustration with the situation in the camps and with the political process in the country.

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Haitians demand president resigns



Protesters in Haiti have demanded the resignation of the president, accusing him of using January's devastating earthquake as an excuse to remain in power.

About 1,000 demonstrators took to the streets on Monday to criticise Rene Preval after he said he would remain in power until next May if a presidential election is not held in November as scheduled.

Rene Preval's term is due to end in February, but officials have said a November ballot is in doubt because the 7.0-magnitude earthquake destroyed voting records and polling places.

The protest was called by nearly 40 political parties and other opposition groups.

As Monday's protest wound down, a quorum of the 29-member senate voted to extend Preval's term. The 99-seat lower chamber approved the measure last week.

Concentrated power

The entire lower house and one-third of the senate are no longer sitting because the earthquake prevented February's legislative elections from taking place.

"Effectively the parliament is ceasing to exist as a governing body and the people on the streets are pretty concerned about that," Al Jazeera's Seb Walker, reporting from Port-au-Prince, said.

"It concentrates power in the hands of the president and the international commission that has been set up with former US president Bill Clinton as a co-chair.

"The people say that this means the day-to-day running of the country is now out of their hands."

The commission, which also includes Jean-Max Bellerive, the prime minister, is to oversee $9.9bn in foreign reconstruction money pledged at a March conference, a sum 40 per cent larger than Haiti's entire gross domestic product.

But many of the protesters said that Preval has sold the country to foreign powers, while the commission violates Haiti's sovereignty.

"Preval should leave power and he should be arrested," Maxime Geffrard, one of the demonstrators, shouted on Monday.

"He is a traitor because he wants to sell the country to foreigners."

'Hatched a plan'

Claudy Louis, a 29-year-old schoolteacher, said: "Preval has used the drama that our country went through and turned it into an opportunity for himself.

"Instead of looking out for the people, he quickly hatched a plan to benefit the small group of people around him, the bourgeoisie."

Tear gas was fired at the protesters as they attempted to break through a barrier outside the ruined presidential palace.

Small protests were also reported in other cities: the southern cities of Jacmel, Miragoane and Nippes, northwestern Gonaives and the northern port city of Cap-Haitien.

Haiti's government has come under strong criticism for its response to the January 12 earthquake that killed up to 300,000 people and caused damage estimated at up to 120 per cent of the impoverished Caribbean country's gross domestic product.

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Haitian police break up violent protest at palace


Haitian police used tear gas and warning shots to disperse protesters calling for President Rene Preval's resignation on Monday after some demonstrators robbed passersby and tried to crash through barricades around the national palace.

World | Natural Disasters

Haiti's government has come under strong criticism for its response to the January 12 earthquake that killed up to 300,000 people and caused damage estimated at up to 120 percent of the impoverished Caribbean country's gross domestic product.

About 1,000 demonstrators took to the streets to denounce what they called a plan by Preval to sell the country to foreign powers and remain in power beyond his legal term, allegations that government officials have repeatedly denied.

The protest was called by nearly 40 political parties and other opposition groups. Police reacted when protesters tried to break through a security perimeter around the quake-damaged palace where Preval was holding meetings.

Protesters, some carrying firearms, attacked passersby and robbed them of money, mobile phones, jewelry and other belongings.

"They came up to me and one of them pulled a gun and told me 'Give me everything you have on you,'" said 21-year-old Jerome Berlanger, who was not part of the protest.

"They took my wallet with my money and my cellular phone and they beat me up," said Berlanger, in tears and with his clothes torn to rags.

In March, international donors pledged $10 billion over 10 years to help Haiti rebuild.

Projects are to be reviewed and approved by an interim committee co-chaired by Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive and former U.S. President and U.N. special envoy to Haiti Bill Clinton. The committee is comprised of an equal number of Haitian and foreign members.

Some Haitians see the creation of the commission as a violation of Haiti's constitution and sovereignty.

"Preval should leave power and he should be arrested," shouted Maxime Geffrard, one of the demonstrators. "He is a traitor because he wants to sell the country to foreigners."

Parliament approved a measure on Monday allowing Preval to stay in office until May 14, 2011, if an election cannot be held in time to swear in the next leader on the constitutionally mandated date of February 7, 2011. Opposition parties and other groups opposed the measure.

Preval's five-year term did not begin until May 14, 2006, because organizational problems delayed the last presidential election and his subsequent inauguration.

He said in a recent statement he would still leave on February 7, 2011, if elections are held at the end of this year. But if not, he would complete his term that ends on May 14, 2011.

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Haiti: opposition protests "emergency law"



On the night of April 15-16 the Haitian Senate approved an 18-month extension of the state of emergency that President René Préval decreed after a Jan. 12 earthquake killed some 230,000 people and devastated the capital area. The "emergency law," which had been approved by the Chamber of Deputies one week earlier, would take effect once Préval had it published in the official government gazette, Le Moniteur.

Thirteen senators voted for the new law, while two opposed it and one abstained; 11 senators boycotted the April 15-16 session, charging that the vote's outcome was already decided. Sen. Hector Amacacis, who supported the law, said that before the vote a meeting was held at a Western embassy "to push the members of Parliament" to approve the law. "The foreigners put all their weight into the balance to get the law adopted," he said.

In addition to extending the state of emergency, the new law formally establishes an Interim Commission for the Reconstruction of Haiti (CIRH) to oversee projects funded by the nearly $10 billion pledged by various countries at an international donors meeting on March 31 in New York [see Update #1028]. Of the CIRH's 16 members, nine are foreigners and just seven come from Haiti. The commission's co-presidents are current Haitian prime minister Jean-Max Bellerive and former US president Bill Clinton (1993-2001), now the United Nations (UN) special envoy for Haiti [see Update #1026].

The law also significantly expands the powers of the Haitian government's executive branch, authorizing the president to approve contracts without bids, to requisition private land to build camps for people displaced by the earthquake, and to evacuate the displaced from their current camps. (AlterPresse, Haiti, April 16 Radio Métropole, Haiti, April 17)

On May 5 Préval, whose five-year term ends on Feb. 7, 2011, sent Parliament a proposal to modify article 232 of the 2008 electoral law so that if new elections can't be held before the end of November, he would remain in office until as late as May 14, 2011. Other elected officials would also have their terms extended. Préval, the UN and the US have been pushing for national elections in the fall that would combine this year's presidential election with legislative elections that were scheduled for Feb. 28 but were postponed because of the earthquake [see Update #1028]. [Due to delays in the presidential elections scheduled for 2005, Préval didn't take office until May 14, 2006.] (Radio Kiskeya, Haiti, May 5)

Préval's moves ceding Haitian sovereignty to foreign officials and increasing his own power have provided an opening for the political opposition. On April 12, three days before the emergency law came before the Senate, a number of opposition parties--including the Lavalas Family (FL) party of former president Jean Bertrand Aristide (1991-1996 and 2001-2004), the Union party, the Union of Democratic Haitian Citizens for Development and Education (UCCADE), and the Alternative coalition—announced the formation of a new coalition, Tèt Kole (literally "heads close together&quot. Two of the coalition's most prominent spokespersons are longtime opponents. René Civil is the leader of the militantly pro-Aristide Popular Power Youth (JPP), while former radio commentator and Port-au-Prince mayor Evans Paul ("K-Plim&quot, a leader of the Democratic Unity Committee (KID), worked to drive Aristide from office in 2004. (Agence Haïtienne de Presse (AHP), April 12; Radio Métropole, April 12)

The coalition has held a series of demonstrations against the emergency law. On April 27 protesters banged on pots and pans in Cap Haïtien to demand Préval's departure, while more than 200 members of different organizations marched in the streets of Miragoane the same day. Some 500 protesters marched again in Miragoane on April 30. Several thousand reportedly marched in Jacmel on May 1 in a protest sponsored by the Regional Coordinating Committee of Organizations of the Southeast (CROS). Lavalas members marched in Cap Haïtien on May 1, but another group of protesters claiming to represent a different branch of Lavalas reportedly attacked them with stones and bottles. There have also been protests in Léogane, Hinche, Cayes, Saint Marc, Gonaïve and Port-au-Prince. (Radio Métropole, April 27, April 30, May 1)

Most of the Tèt Kole parties apparently plan to run in the elections this fall. In contrast, an April 19 statement from the leftist Batay Ouvriye ("Workers' Struggle," BO) dismissed the elections as a "maneuver…to mask the dictatorship of the ruling classes." The group has called for building a grassroots movement to fight for a new political and social system. ("Nou ale," BO statement, April 19)

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Re: haitians protesting haiti president

framn foolish incompetent prez tell starvinn ann sick hiatian people imm waan free donated food ann free medical care fii stapp even dough moas aff dem still livinn inn tents mii xxpected de haitian peeps fii protests. dem finallee add a big protest fii demand dat imm leave. oww cum dat fool neva ave noo plan inn place fii natural diaster iss beyond mii. fool add fii tunn haiti ova too farreenn management cah imm lack da skill fii manage ann guvern

haiti prez iss incompetent

[WiseJamaican]

Re: haitians protesting haiti president

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: blakkgiant</div><div class="ubbcode-body">framn foolish incompetent prez tell starvinn ann sick hiatian people imm waan free donated food ann free medical care fii stapp even dough moas aff dem still livinn inn tents mii xxpected de haitian peeps fii protests. dem finallee add a big protest fii demand dat imm leave. oww cum dat fool neva ave noo plan inn place fii natural diaster iss beyond mii. fool add fii tunn haiti ova too farreenn management cah imm lack da skill fii manage ann guvern

haiti prez iss incompetent </div></div>

That is power and no one want to give it up. How can election called in a situation like this. I wonder what about rebuilding the country. “Quattie bread fill monkey belly”