Haiti Protests Spread to Port-au-Prince

A three-day wave of anti-government demonstrations in Haiti spread to this capital Wednesday when protesters barricaded a major boulevard with burning tires and overturned garbage bins.

The protests reflected increasing unrest nearly four months after dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier fled the country amid widespread demonstrations against his regime.

Many Haitians complain that the current military-led provisional government has made little economic or political progress.

‘Still Hungry’

“Duvalier left four months ago, and Haiti is still hungry,” Prosper Termitis, one of the protesters, said Wednesday afternoon. Termitis, 30, said he had helped to build a bonfire of old tires on J.J. Dessalines Boulevard in downtown Port-au-Prince.

Similar fires blocked the boulevard on the east and west sides of the downtown area, filling the air with sooty black smoke. Most stores on the thoroughfare were closed and shuttered by mid-afternoon, and vehicle traffic was stopped.

Several thousand people milled around on the street, while troops and police tried to keep protesters from forming into crowds. Soldiers fired some warning shots in the air, and several youths were arrested.

Protesters stoned a government bus, breaking several windows. There were reports of damage to other vehicles.

Other Demonstrations

Crowds also demonstrated against the government in the northern cities of Cap Haitien and Gonaives, and in the southern cities of Petit Goave and Leogane.

Radio Metropole, an independent station, reported that protesters took over the provincial administrative headquarters in Gonaives. Others barricaded the country’s main northern and southern highways at Gonaives and Petit Goave.

The wave of protests began Monday in Gonaives, the same city where a nationwide series of demonstrations began in November, leading to Duvalier’s downfall Feb. 7.

This week’s protesters are demanding the removal of at least four government officials. They are Col. Williams Regala, a member of the three-man national government council; Lesly Delatour, the minister of finance; Herard Abraham, the minister of information, and Aubelin Jolicoeur, the No. 2 official in the Ministry of Information.

Official Under Duvalier

Many people object to Regala because he was a high military official under Duvalier. Delatour has been criticized for proposing that four government-run enterprises be closed or sold to private investors.

Abraham and Jolicoeur have been on the less-popular side of a dispute with the government’s national television channel. The channel’s manager quit, and most of the staff walked out to protest what they called government interference in decisions on news coverage.

Demands for removal of the four officials appear to symbolize discontent over the provisional government’s performance in general.

Emmanuel Michel, who was adding tires to a bonfire Wednesday on Dessalines Boulevard, said people expected improvements in living conditions after Duvalier’s fall but that they still do not have enough food and clothing. Michel said it is time for Lt. Gen. Henri Namphy, head of the provisional government council, to step down.

‘We Want Elections’

“We want him to leave Haiti,” said Michel, 27. “We want elections soon.”

Namphy has promised elections but has set no date.

After a wave of protests in March, he announced a shake-up in the government council and the Cabinet. He has taken no measures so far in response to this week’s protests.