Haiti's poor want exiled "King Aristide" back

[Judi Lynn]

Haiti's poor want exiled "King Aristide" back

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, March 12 (Reuters) A wall in one of Port-au-Prince's poorest slums displays a painting of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide sitting on a cloud and wearing a crown like some kind of deity.

Below the image, mangy dogs root through heaps of garbage rotting in the sun and sewage trickles along the dirt road.

''Aristide is the king of the poor. That is why we want him back,'' said Rafael Pierre, a 28-year-old unemployed mechanic.

Pierre was among thousands who marched yesterday in Haiti's capital to demand the return of Aristide, a former slum priest who fled into exile on February 29, driven out by an armed revolt in the poor Caribbean nation and by U.S. pressure to quit.
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http://www.deepikaglobal.com/latestnews.asp?ncode=13705

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Two Killed at Pro-Aristide Rally in Haiti
Thu Mar 11, 7:29 PM ET

By IAN JAMES and PETER PRENGAMAN, Associated Press Writers

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - A shootout between police and protesters killed two men and injured seven during a demonstration in support of Jean-Bertrand Aristide Thursday as the exiled Haitian president planned a return to the Caribbean.

The violence erupted as hundreds of protesters marched through the Belair neighborhood of Port-au-Prince yelling "Aristide has to come back! We don't want Bush as president!"


Shots were fired and some protesters pulled out pistols. Police fired tear gas, and a shootout between protesters and police ensued, witnesses said.


Two young men were killed, and seven others were being treated for shotgun wounds, hospital officials said.
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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=589&ncid=734&e=2&u=/ap/20040312/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/haiti