Woman Killed in Haitian Disturbance in Miami

A celebration by more than 1,500 Haitians who thought their president had been overthrown turned violent Thursday night and police said a woman was killed when a car drove into the crowd.

The angered crowd overturned and burned several cars, including the one they said drove into them, killing the unidentified woman and injuring several other persons, said Miami Police spokesman Mike Stewart.

There was some looting over an eight-square-block area, he said, but the crowd was contained by about 50 officers and eventually calmed down.

“It’s not a riot. They are venting their frustrations,” said Stewart. “I’d call it a disturbance.” He estimated the crowd at 1,500 to 2,000 people.

One officer accidentally shot himself in the arm during the melee and was reported in good condition. The officer’s identity was not released.

Five or six people were bitten by police dogs brought in to stop the crowd from attacking a record store owned by the man they believed drove into the crowd. The crowd calmed down when the dogs were taken away, and began chanting “Down with Duvalier.”

The demonstration began when a gathering at the Haitian Refugee Center was told Haiti’s President-for-Life Jean-Claude Duvalier had been overthrown, said center lawyer Stephen Krampf. He said he did not know exactly how the rumor started, but that people immediately ran into the streets.

Shooting in Air

“There was some shooting in the air,” Krampf said. “I myself saw someone shooting in the air, about five shots.” No one was injured, he said.

Krampf said the people in the streets were “yelling very joyous shouts of happiness like ‘Down with Duvalier,’ honking horns and dancing in the street.”

He said non-Haitians apparently joined in with the demonstrators.

The current unrest in Haiti is the most sustained since the authoritarian Duvalier family regime was established in 1957.