Reply #3: Haiti: Large Peaceful Demonstration for Aristide's Return [View All]

[Minstrel Boy]

More than 10,000 people poured into the streets in Cap Haitian, Haiti's second-largest city, to demand Aristide's return and an end to repression reported the Haiti Information Project (HIP). The December 16 event marked the anniversary of Aristide and Lavalas' first electoral victory in 1990. It was one of the first large demonstrations allowed to be held peacefully since a U.S.-chosen government took power after the February 29th coup de etat.
UN troops publicly guarded businesses' private property from the protesters. Two days before the demonstration, UN and government troops had done nothing while paramilitaries seized Aristide's home.

Moise Jean-Charles, founder of a local peasant movement called Movement of Milot Peasants (MPM) and popular mayor of the town of Milot, quietly joined the crowd to very loud joy as people realized his presence. He has been in hiding since Haitian police and UN troops invaded his home on June 14th. At least 700 political prisoners remain in jail in Haiti, even after the high-profile arrest and release of Father Gerard Jean-Juste.

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2004/12/18/131326/27