Violent times in Haiti

Young gangsters torched cars, fired in the air and terrorised people blocks from the presidential National Palace in a prelude to what many fear will be another fearsomely violent day in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital.

Heavily armed ex-soldiers based in Port-au-Prince said yesterday that reinforcements had been arriving from all over the country to help end two weeks’ of shoot-outs and beheadings in which at least 48 people have been killed.

Supporters of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide are expected to demand his return to the Caribbean country today as they mark the 10th anniversary of Aristide’s return from his first exile, through the intervention of 20,000 US troops who ended three years of brutal military rule.