WORLD BRIEFING / HAITI
Gunfire broke out at a funeral procession for a popular Haitian priest, killing a man and prompting protests that could inflame government foes with only days to go until elections in the troubled nation.
Marchers accused U.N. peacekeepers of shooting the unidentified man in the head during protests surrounding the funeral of the Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste, who was a close ally of exiled former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
U.N. peacekeeping spokeswoman Sophie Boutaud de la Combe said Brazilian peacekeepers fired at least seven warning shots to turn back aggressive members of the procession and that the soldiers were ordered back to their base after the incident. The shooting happened as about 2,000 people were carrying Jean-Juste’s flag-draped coffin to the presidential palace to protest President Rene Preval’s policies and failure to bring Aristide back from South Africa.
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