South African Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu tries to calm thousands of supporters of Haitian presidential candidate René Preval, as they try to get into the Montana Hotel, where the Provisional Electoral Center cancelled a press conference to announce polling results yesterday, in Port-au-Prince, yesterday. Former President René Preval fell further below the 50 per cent he needed to win the Haitian election outright as the counting of ballots continued on Monday and allegations of manipulation mounted. - REUTERS
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters):
ANGRY SUPPORTERS of ex-President René Preval paralysed the Haitian capital with burning tyres and roadblocks yesterday as Preval fell further below the 50 per cent needed to win the presidency and allegations of election manipulation mounted.
Witnesses told local radio U.N. peacekeepers fired into a crowd of protesters in the Tabarre area, just north of the capital, killing a young man who supported Preval and injuring several other people.
United Nations spokesman David Wimhurst denied the accounts, saying members of the 9,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force had only fired two warning shots into the air.
"They did not injure anybody. Later, shots were fired by unidentified individuals in the same area," he said. "I can assure you no individuals were wounded by U.N. peacekeepers."
On a street in the capital, a U.N. armoured personnel carrier plowed through a barricade of rocks and debris as protesters hurled curses.
RESULTS SABOTAGE
The peaceful atmosphere following last Tuesday's vote began to unravel amid charges that election officials were tampering with results to prevent a first-round victory by Preval, a one-time ally of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was ousted in a bloody revolt two years ago.
Like Aristide, Preval is viewed as a champion of the Caribbean country's poor masses, most of whom live on $1 a day, but he is distrusted by the small and wealthy elite.
"We are going to put one million people in the streets in the coming hours," said John Joel Joseph, a community leader in the Port-au-Prince slums. "The people won't take this," he added, referring to the latest vote count.
