Haitian Troops Fire at Crowd; 4 Killed, 5 Hurt

Soldiers fired into a crowd of shoppers at a bustling downtown market here Saturday, killing four people and wounding at least five others, after a mob attacked a municipal truck carrying corpses to a paupers’ grave, witnesses said.

The mob mistakenly thought the truck was carrying victims fatally shot during a demonstration Wednesday, witnesses said.

The truck carrying the corpses was driven from the scene, but the mob later stopped a municipal garbage truck passing through the area and beat the driver unconscious, they said. The mob then set the truck on fire.

Troops were apparently drawn to the market by black smoke billowing into the air from the burning truck.

The mob had dispersed by the time the troops arrived, and soldiers opened fire on a crowd of shoppers in the nearby marketplace, according to journalists on the scene.

“A few soldiers just started shooting indiscriminately into the market,” said Nancy McGirr, a photographer for the Reuters news agency.

The shooting was the first by security forces since Wednesday, when troops shot dead at least eight protesters and wounded 30 others during an anti-government march in Port-au-Prince.

Calm had returned to other parts of the capital Saturday after a two-day general strike that paralyzed businesses and public transport throughout the country.

Streets and markets had bustled with activity as people rushed to buy provisions depleted during the anti-government strike, called to protest the killing of demonstrators by soldiers on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, an opposition leader, a main organizer of a recent wave of general strikes and protests, vowed to fight a government order for his expulsion in the courts.

The military-dominated National Governing Council, headed by Lt. Gen. Henri Namphy, on Friday night ordered the expulsion of Daniel Narcisse, one of six main organizers of recent strikes and protests aimed at ousting the government and purging Tontons Macoutes, a disbanded but still dreaded militia.

In a communique accusing foreigners of inciting unrest here, the government charged that the Haitian-born politician is a Canadian national who had no right to remain in the country.