9 People Hurt in Haiti Student Protests

9 People Hurt in Haiti Student Protests

January 7, 2004
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 12:32 p.m. ET

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- Following the ways of past
student movements that helped topple two presidents,
hundreds of university students marched against President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Wednesday, provoking clashes that
left at least nine injured.

One protester was shot, one was stabbed and others were hit
by hurled stones or beaten by Aristide supporters who
stormed the area in trucks, clutching rocks and sticks.

The government supporters scattered as police fired warning
shots and then fired directly toward them, but none
appeared to have been wounded.

Shouting ``Down with Aristide,'' the protesters wore
surgical masks to guard against tear gas. They were blocked
by barricades of wrecked cars and burning tires set up by
Aristide partisans.

The students accused Aristide of trying to increase his own
power and failing to help the poor. In a country where an
estimated 40 percent of the 8 million people are under 18,
such activism carries weight.

Student protests and strikes helped oust President Elie
Lescot in 1946, followed by Paul Magloire in 1956. Their
opposition also led to the weakening of the Duvalier family
dictatorship, which imprisoned dozens of students during
its 29-year regime until 1986.

``We have no future,'' student Rodeny Williams said
Wednesday. ``We are not afraid.''

The marchers join a swelling youth protest movement as many
face a bleak future. Most Haitians are jobless or without
regular work, foreign investment is at a standstill and
foreign visas to countries such as the United States and
France are increasingly hard to obtain.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Haiti-Student-Protests.html?ex=1074497954&ei=1&en=192a6708dae0a2e0