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.
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