Over 10,000 March in Port-au-Prince for Women's Day

More than 10,000 Lavalas activists marched without incident in
Port-au-Prince on International Women's Day.

Over 10,000 Lavalas activists demonstrated on Tuesday, March 8 in the
populist district of Bel-Air in Haiti¹s capital city, Port-au-Prince. Those
assembled marched in solidarity with women whose children or spouses have
been killed in recent repression perpetrated in populist sections of the
capital.

This demonstration was held to mark International Women's Day and, largely
due to international activist outrage over past collusion between UN forces
and the Haitian police, received a high level of protection from soldiers of
the United Nation stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). Dissidents also
protested political persecution, and called for the return of constitutional
government and the release of all political prisoners.

Several of the women who took part in the march called for the release of
their husbands imprisoned at the National Penitentiary and urged respect for
their rights.

The spokesperson for Bel-Air activists, Samba Boukman, said that the public
will never trust the national police until it stops committing abuses.

At a sit-in elsewhere in the city, the coordinator of the Association of
Women Victims of the Cooperatives, Margareth Fortuné, denounced the behavior
of the ³interim² authorities, who she said limit themselves to making
beautiful promises which they never keep.

Mme. Fortuné also criticized women who are part of the current government,
who she argued are today distancing themselves from the demands of women who
are part of the poor majority of Haitians.

"By virtue of the principle of the continuity of the State, the technocrats
should continue the process of compensation begun by the Lavalas
administration" asserted Margareth Fortuné.

Meanwhile, Ronald St-Jean, coordinator of the GDP (Group for the Defense of
the Rights of the Political Prisoners) spoke Tuesday of his concern for the
physical well-being of Yvon Neptune and Jocelerme Privert, restating his
view that the two Lavalas dignitaries and numerous other members of the
party are in prison solely for their political opinions.

He appealed to the interim government to immediately free the political
prisoners as UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for on November 22,
2004.

According to Mr. St-Jean, without the release of the political prisoners,
one can not even discuss the questions of elections and national dialogue.

Mr. Neptune is now in his 17th day of a hunger strike to protest the illegal
and unjustified nature of his incarceration, which began nearly one year
ago.


Thanks to the essential Port-au-Prince news service Agence Haïtienne de
Presse (AHP) for news briefs that comprise this report.