1000s hold anti-govt. demos in Haiti

Thousands of people have staged demonstrations in Haiti to protest against President Michel Martelly™s government.

On Thursday, the protesters, including a number of opposition party chiefs and parliamentarians, took to the streets in the capital Port-au-Prince, chanting slogans against the president.

Riot police fired tear gas at the protesters as some of them tried to break through barricades around the presidential palace.

The protesters urged Martelly to resign because of corruption allegations. The protesters also vented their anger over the existing poverty and unemployment.

œPeople are living in misery,” the demonstrators shouted, saying, œCorruption and hunger are rising across the country, Martelly must go!”

A similar protest was held in the northern city of Cap-Haitian, where the demonstrators held up plates and spoons as they marched through the streets.

“The people want jobs and want to live in dignity,” the protesters chanted.

“We will stay mobilized until the end,” said a protester during the rally.

On September 30, a demonstration was staged in the capital against Martelly™s government. The street action was held on the anniversary of the 1991 ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Aristide, known as a champion of Haiti™s poor and reviled by the elite, was the country™s first democratically elected president. He first came to power in 1990 but served only months before a coup removed him from office.

He took refuge in the United States but returned in 1994, serving his term until 1996.

Aristide was re-elected in 2000. However, he was forced from power in early 2004 after several months of political turmoil. He returned to his homeland in March 2011.

IA/HN/MHB