Gunmen open fire on anti-Aristide protesters

At least five people died and many were wounded when gunmen fired on thousands of protesters demanding the prosecution of Haiti’s exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

The attack drew return fire from US Marines stationed on the presidential palace in Port-au-Prince. It was the worst attack since Aristide’s fall and among the dead was a noted Spanish TV journalist.

Demonstrators scattered as shots crackled across the vast Champs de Mars plaza in front of the presidential National Palace. Police ducked into doorways. One fired off a string of shots from a submachine gun, another threw a wounded colleague over his shoulders and hauled him to safety, still pointing his pistol down the street.

Blood slicked the floor of an operating room at a private hospital where wounded lay waiting for treatment. Women screamed and men cried as the few doctors short of drugs struggled to treat the wounded. Most of the victims were in serious condition with wounds from assault rifles, said surgeon Ronald Georges.

The attack marked the first known instance of US Marines opening fire since they were sent to stabilise Haiti a week ago, but angry survivors accused the Marines and their French colleagues of not doing enough to prevent the attack.

Several witnesses said they saw Aristide militants open fire from the roof of the Rex movie theatre across the plaza as thousands of people gathered in front of the National Palace. US Marine Major Richard Crusan said it was unclear who the gunmen were.

He told The Associated Press that three Marines on the grounds of the palace returned fire, shooting in the direction of the theatre fire. No Marines were wounded.

Ricardo Ortega, a New York correspondent for the Spanish television station Antena 3, was shot in the chest and abdomen and died at the hospital.

Among more than 30 injured people was Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel photographer Michael Laughlin, 37, who was shot in the face and shoulder but was in stable condition at the hospital.

The direct trajectory from the palace to the theatre does not include the area where Ortega and Laughlin were wounded.

As doctors struggled to treat the wounded, a French military helicopter made a dramatic landing on the traffic-clogged road in front of the Canape Vert Hospital. Two men descended to wheel a gurney of emergency medical supplies.

The protesters had been calling for Aristide to stand trial on charges of corruption and the alleged murders of opponents killed by his armed militants.

Aristide fled Haiti on February 29 as fighters from a popular rebellion were reaching Port-au-Prince, the capital, and the US and France were urging him to step down.

Some witnesses said gunmen first appeared outside the old Defence Ministry building on the plaza, then kneeled on the pavement and opened fire.

Others said gunmen in two all-terrain vehicles started the shooting, while others said they saw gunmen shooting down from the roof of the Rex movie theatre at the other end of the plaza from the palace.

Major Crusan said three Marines on the grounds of the palace – not sharpshooters on the roof – “heard reports that there was shooting coming from the direction of the theatre and we believe that we responded to that”.

Some protesters complained that the foreign forces had not provided enough security.

“The peacekeepers were nowhere near where the shooting was,” said Almil Costel, 31, who was shot twice in the left shoulder.

French commander Colonel Daniel Leplatois defended the peacekeepers. “We’re not able to secure the lives of all of the demonstrators,” he said.

After the shooting, a truck with loudspeakers drove around the palace, blaring music. One man speaking over its loudspeaker shouted at the US Marines: “People are dying every day in this country. You have to do something about it.”

Aristide supporters had planned a separate demonstration yesterday but said they were offered no protection by the peacekeepers and were afraid of attacks from anti-Aristide activists. Their protest was rescheduled for today, although leaders said they still were worried about security.

“The Americans are only here to protect those who helped oust Aristide,” said Ednar Ducoste, 23, an Aristide supporter. “If we had guns, we would be fighting against them right now.”