Troops Disperse Protesters in Haiti : Tourists Begin Pulling Out as Thousands Demonstrate

Troops and militiamen fired in the air today to disperse thousands of anti-government protesters in Cap Haitien, Haiti’s second-biggest city, and American and other tourists began pulling out.

The atmosphere was tense as men, women and children chanting “A bas Duvalier!” (Down with Duvalier!), threw stones at troops and militiamen, blocked roads and were answered with clubbings and sporadic shots in the air. It was the second day of protests here.

(Jean-Claude Duvalier is the president of this French-speaking island nation in the Caribbean.)

Foreign tourists, mostly Americans and Canadians, began packing their bags and pulling out. About 800 passengers of the American cruise liner Caribe 2, who had been shopping in the narrow, potholed streets of the city in the morning, were rounded up and rushed back to the vessel.

Vacationers Drive to Capital

Other Americans who had been enjoying vacations in plush hotels above the harbor packed up and drove to the capital, Port-au-Prince, five hours away by car.

Forty minutes after the Caribe 2 sailed, hundreds of youths again began taunting troops and militiamen and, as the cruise liner disappeared from sight, reporters on a small hill above the town heard a new burst of 12 rifle shots.

The incidents started on the steps of the white stone cathedral in the Place d’Armes. There was no antagonism toward foreigners, and several residents pulled reporters into their tiny homes for their own safety as soldiers fired in the air, on a number of occasions not far above roof level.

The troops and blue-shirted militiamen known here as the Tontons Macoutes later toured the narrow streets in jeeps.