My profile:
PORT-AU-PRINCE -- President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has returned to Haiti but rumors of an assassination attempt on the popular leader, later quashed by the United States, sent thousands of angry Haitians into the streets brandishing sticks and machetes.
Meanwhile, Aristide left the National Palace on Monday for the first time since he was reinstated Saturday, briefly visiting the National Museum on the day commemorating the assassination in 1806 of Haitian independence leader Jean-Jacques Dessalines.
As he left the palace an enthusiastic crowd mobbed his motorcade as it emerged from one exit, forcing it to leave by a different route.
Minutes before, in a short ceremony at the palace, Aristide had raised a Haitian flag and reiterated calls for reconciliation and justice. "Let us work together to bring about a nation prosperous and filled with peace, justice and reconciliation," he said.
Haitians had taken to the streets Sunday too, in response to rumors that weapons had been seized from the car of the new army commander, Major General Jean-Claude Duperval, before he paid a routine visit to the new president at the palace in Port-au-Prince.
Commenting on the seizure, the White House said the finding of weapons did not indicate an assassination plan. White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta said the army commander usually carried weapons in his car.
But reports of the incident spread through the capital and Haitians flooded into the streets, searching cars at several impromptu roadblocks and calling for the military and police to be dismantled.
Crowds jeered Duperval as he left the palace. U.S. military vehicles broadcast assurances Aristide was unharmed and asked people to go home.
"Destroy the army," some in the crowd of several thousand chanted outside the palace. "Give us Duperval, we want to eat him," people shouted.
Herman Dimanche, 58, said the Haitians rushed to the palace to ensure the safety of their beloved president.
"We don't care if we die but we do not want anything to happen to our president," Dimanche said.
Protesters called for retribution against the military who ruled Haiti after toppling Aristide in September 1991, despite Aristide's plea for peaceful reconciliation.
|
|
Tweet |
|
This article has no comments. Be the first to leave a comment |
Discussion
Comments
To post comments you must be registered
Comments via Facebook
Most Read
1.
TNK-BP Head Quits as Shareholder Crisis Flares
Billionaire Mikhail Fridman resigned Monday as chief executive of TNK-BP, plunging the country's No. 3 oil firm deeper into crisis and challenging co-owner BP's grip on the business.
2.
Vkontakte Founder Tosses 5,000-Ruble Notes Out Window
The founder of the social networking site Vkontakte celebrated St. Petersburg’s 309th anniversary over the weekend by tossing paper airplanes carrying 5,000-ruble notes out a building window.
3.
Exxon Pours Concrete for Phase 3 of Sakhalin-1
The bottom half of what will be Russia’s biggest ice-resistant drilling platform looked like a gigantic upside-down table.
4.
Putin's Sobchak Problem
In a recent article that ran in Russia Beyond the Headlines, a newspaper supplement that is produced by state-owned Rossiiskaya Gazeta and is distributed to leading publications around the world, political correspondent Dmitry Babich wrote: "The much-praised middle class … who were behind the protests never threatened Putin with strikes. The reason was simple: The city could happily live with those people striking."
5.
Latest RenCap Firings Unlikely to Be the Last
Analysts warned Monday that privately owned investment bank Renaissance Capital would be forced into more redundancies, after it fired a second tranche of employees last week in the same month that it announced its biggest loss for 10 years.
6.
Feeling Like 'Idiots,' 4 Bikers Flying Back Home From Iraq
Four Russian bikers jailed for five days after entering Iraq with fake visas were to arrive in Moscow late Monday — without their motorcycles but grateful for freedom despite, as one of them said, their “stupidity.”
7.
Rogozin Orders Investigation of Plane Builders
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin has ordered prosecutors to investigate the "illegal" privatization of property assets belonging to the Yakovlev and Tupolev aviation firms.
8.
Opposition Applies for 50,000-Strong Rally June 12
The latest major opposition protest may serve as the first test of a tough new rally law that could be approved as early as next week.
9.
Hague, Lavrov Smooth Over Syria
British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Monday became the first senior Western official to hold talks with the new Russian government, in what analysts labeled an initiative to prevent further deterioration of relations.
10.
Kennan's Insight Into the Russian Soul
George Kennan is best known as the author of the containment policy, which served as the overarching principle informing U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War.
1.
Tabloid: Superjet Downed by U.S. Industrial Sabotage
A tabloid claims that Russian intelligence agencies are investigating the possibility that the U.S. military may have brought down the Sukhoi Superjet that crashed in Indonesia.
2.
Red Square Flyboy Regrets Air Stunt
When Mathias Rust landed his white Cessna on Red Square on May 28, 1987, he had placed all his hopes for world peace in Mikhail Gorbachev.
3.
Sweden Wins Eurovision; Grannies Take Second
Sweden’s Loreen won the Eurovision Song Contest in Azerbaijan on Sunday before an international TV audience of 100 million, days after angering Azeri authorities by meeting rights activists critical of the host country’s human rights record.
4.
Village Grannies Make It to Eurovision Finals
Russia's group Buranovskiye Babushki has made it into the finals of the Eurovision Song Contest in Baku, Azerbaijan, bringing the elderly folk singers from a far-off Russian village to the attention of more than 100 million viewers around the world.
5.
Protest and Chaos Seen in Kudrin-Ordered Study
Continued protests in Russia will likely lead to violence or chaotic change, according to a new study ordered by the former finance minister.
6.
Tensions Rise as Opposition Leaders are Freed
Sergei Udaltsov and Alexei Navalny emerged from prison Thursday, while a dramatic standoff erupted at a State Duma hearing over a bill that would hike fines for illegal demonstrations.
7.
150 Detained at Anti-Kremlin Rallies
About 150 people were detained Sunday as scores of people gathered for a series of anti-government demonstrations in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
8.
More Public Figures Accused of Flouting Road Rules
Following the president's order to cut the number of officials entitled to use flashing lights to skirt through traffic, several incidents of alleged abuse involving high-profile figures have come to light.
9.
Ukraine in Uproar Over Status of Russian Language
Ukraine's ruling party has triggered violent protests with a move to upgrade the official role of Russian, a sensitive issue opponents say will split the country.
10.
Putin's Cabinet Cronies Follow Him to Kremlin
A day after the formation of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s government, seven ministers who did not make the cut have resurfaced as senior staff in President Vladimir Putin’s administration.
1.
Hundreds of Arrests Set Grim Backdrop for Victory Day Celebrations
As Moscow gears up to celebrate its victory in World War II, 67 years ago Wednesday, the shadow of political conflict shrouds the capital as hundreds of arrests cloud Victory Day festivities.
2.
Russian Satellite Takes Highest-Ever Resolution Picture of Earth
A stunning 121-megapixel snapshot of the Earth was taken by a Russian weather satellite in what is thought to be the highest resolution picture of the planet ever taken from space.
3.
Bodies, No Survivors Spotted at Superjet Crash
Search and rescue helicopters and volunteers struggling through thick forest and mountainous terrain spotted bodies but no survivors on the Indonesian mountainside where a Sukhoi Superjet 100 crashed by the time darkness forced an end to the search Thursday night.
4.
Mysterious Photos Reveal an Unseen WWII
After the end of World War II, Paul Sadler returned home to Chicago with three German books and a photo album from the Dachau concentration camp.
5.
Tabloid: Superjet Downed by U.S. Industrial Sabotage
A tabloid claims that Russian intelligence agencies are investigating the possibility that the U.S. military may have brought down the Sukhoi Superjet that crashed in Indonesia.
6.
Furniture Magnate Shot Dead in Mercedes in Moscow Region
A 46-year-old furniture magnate was killed with six gunshot wounds to the head and chest early Sunday as he arrived in his Mercedes at his home in the Moscow region.
7.
Vladivostok Bridge Climbers Fined 300 Rubles Each
Three thrill-seekers who climbed two Vladivostok bridges earlier this week and took photos from the top were fined 300 rubles ($10) each for trespassing.
8.
New Cabinet Has Familiar Cast of Characters
President Vladimir Putin on Monday announced the makeup of the new Cabinet answering to Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, with three-fourths of the members having been replaced.
9.
Superjet Missing in Indonesia With 50 on Board
A dark cloud was cast Wednesday on the revival of Russia’s aviation industry when a Sukhoi-built Superjet 100 with 50 people on board disappeared from the radar screens of Indonesian flight controllers.
10.
Why Putin's Days Are Numbered
On Monday, Vladimir Putin will take the presidential oath of office for the third time. After 12 years in power, Putin has increased his control over the country's major institutions, the siloviki and state bureaucracy.
