Bill Quigley, a professor
at Loyola University New Orleans School of Law, is in Haiti
on a visit as a volunteer attorney with the Institute
for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. Port-au-Prince, February
28 – One year
ago today, the elected government of Haiti, led by President
Jean Bertrand Aristide, was forced out of office and replaced
by unelected people more satisfactory to business interests and
the US, France and Canada.
Today there was a large
nonviolent March for Democracy called for the neighborhood of
Bel Air (Beautiful
Air). I attended with Fr. Gerard Jean-Juste and others
from St. Clare's Parish. We started with prayers in the
Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in the center of Bel Air. After
prayers we joined the larger crowd outside marching and singing
through the streets of the old and quite poor neighborhood. Thousands
of people were walking and dancing to the beat of drums, loudly
chanting, "Bring Back Titi (Aristide)!!!!" in
Creole, French and English.
Fr. Jean-Juste has become
one of the main voices for democracy in Haiti since his release
from prison
several weeks ago after 48 days in jail with no charges. He
was interviewed two dozen times by local and international media
during the walk with the crowd. It all seemed like
a peaceful unorganized mardi gras parade until I noticed the
Reuters correspondent was wearing a bullet proof vest. MINUSTAH,
the UN security presence was all around. The giant moving
party continued down Des Cesar Street. The street was packed
from side to side with people carrying signs, umbrellas, and
handmade cardboard posters all calling for the return of democracy
and Aristide. Neighborhood people joined in or clapped
and danced from their front steps.
Suddenly, at the corner
of Monsiegneur Guillot Street and Des Cesar, there was a loud
boom from very
close by. People started screaming and running. Another
boom, then another. As people fled, I slipped on a
pile of fruit and tried desperately to hide behind a very
small tree. As people rushed past and dove into an opening
in a concrete wall, the booms continued. I then dove
though the wall and hid behind a one foot wide concrete pillar. The
booms continued. People were down in the street. I
saw a big white official looking truck hurtling down the street
as the booms continued. Others saw police in black
uniforms, helmets, ski masks, and large guns shooting into the
crowd. People around me were huddled under stairs and crying. The
group from St. Clare's pulled me into a corner and we rolled
into a ball until the booms stopped.
Out on the street a man
was down and unconscious. Fr.
Jean-Juste knelt over him and prayed. Down the street others
were carrying injured people on their backs. The crowd
screamed that the police were coming back and we ran down
an alley into a small home. Children were screaming, adults were
crying, everyone was in fear. We waited, dirty and drenched
in sweat, until the growing UN presence made it safe to
leave.
Early reports document
several people shot, at least one killed. Others were beaten. Two
men showed me where the police wounded them.
As we drove slowly out
of the now deserted neighborhood, the faces of the people on
the porches who were
so happy minutes before, were now somber, many crying.
As we rode back to his
parish, Fr. Jean-Juste said: "The Aristide supporters were such a big number,
it was very difficult to have a proper estimation of the crowd. The
message is clear. Our vote has been counted. It still
must be counted. There is no other way for Haiti to go
forward but with the return of constitutional
order, the release of all political prisoners, and the physical
return of President Aristide."
Though the march for democracy in Haiti
was halted by police shooting into the unarmed crowd, the people
I talked to said their march for the return of democracy in Haiti
will continue.
Contact Bill Quigley at [email protected] |