PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) – Thousands of Haitians marched on the presidential National Palace on Sunday, burning a billboard of exiled leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide and demanding he face trial for corruption.
Shots were fired during the protest, wounding at least five people. It was not immediately clear who fired. Afterward, U.S. Marines who had been watching the march began patrols around the palace.
Pro-Aristide militants canceled a counter-march, saying they feared reprisal attacks and that peacekeepers offered them no protection. Their protest was rescheduled for Monday.
“The Americans are only here to protect those who helped oust Aristide,” said Ednar Ducoste, 23. “If we had guns, we would be fighting against them right now.”
Two leaders of the monthlong rebellion that ousted Aristide joined the jubilant crowd, signing autographs for demonstrators. Guy Philippe, a former Aristide police chief accused of coup-plotting, was hoisted onto supporters’ shoulders as they chanted “Guy Philippe – hero! Aristide – zero!”
During the march in Port-au-Prince, protesters tore down a billboard that displayed Aristide’s picture and the slogan: “Haiti is the mother of freedom.” They carried it to the palace and set it on fire, as military helicopters circled overhead and black smoke billowed from the front gate.
The protesters also cheered for Louis-Jodel Chamblain, an ex-soldier convicted in the killings of Aristide supporters. He was among the most prominent leaders of the rebels, who began their uprising Feb. 5 in Haiti’s north.
Near the state hospital, the stench rose from more than 200 bodies rotting in the morgue, most from the rebel insurgency that drove Aristide to flee exactly a week ago.
A morgue worker said the latest bodies – two men with gunshot wounds – were brought in Friday, more evidence that the latest round of bloodshed is not over in the Caribbean nation with a 200-year history of violent politics.
Rebels have refused to give up their weapons, despite Philippe’s pledge Wednesday to do so. Marines have faced hostility – so far, only shouted insults – from armed Aristide militants furious over their leader’s ouster and what they call “an occupation army.”
Sunday’s anti-Aristide crowd also took up a cry of “Help, yes. Occupation, no!”
It swelled quickly to thousands who ran and danced through the city, chanting, “Try Aristide! Jail Aristide!”
Businessman Liastaud Michel, 56, called the event “a victory march … to celebrate. We want things to change.”
The ex-president released a statement Sunday through government officials in the Central African Republic, where he is in exile, saying he was “well-looked after” by his hosts. He has said the United States forced him from power, something Washington denies.
Outside Port-au-Prince, where U.S. Special Forces and French legionnaires have deployed, rebel groups, including a former street gang and ex-soldiers of the army disbanded by Aristide, insist they will not surrender their weapons until the peacekeepers disarm pro-Aristide militants.
The challenge of disarmament is just one of many stumbling blocks facing the impoverished Caribbean nation.
A recently appointed seven-member “Council of Sages” was to meet for a third day Sunday in the capital to choose a new prime minister. Officials said they hoped to have a decision by Tuesday.
Associated Press writer Joseph B. Frazier contributed to this report from Cap-Haitien.
