Haiti election protesters rampage, torch building

PORT-AU-PRINCE, (Reuters) – Thousands of protesters  rampaged through the streets of Haiti’s capital today to  contest election results, and they torched the headquarters of  the ruling government coalition they accused of rigging the  results, witnesses said.
Port-au-Prince descended into chaos as supporters of  popular musician and presidential candidate Michel Martelly,  who failed to qualify for an election run-off in results  announced by Haitian electoral authorities, set up burning  barricades of timber, boulders and flaming tires.
Preliminary results from the turbulent Nov. 28 elections  announced late on Thursday showed former first lady Mirlande  Manigat and outgoing President Rene Preval protege Jude  Celestin both in the January run-off, with Martelly narrowly in  third place and so excluded.
The unrest, which was also reported in at least one other  town in the poor, volatile Caribbean country, appeared to dash  international hopes that the U.N.-backed elections could create  a stable new leadership for Haiti, which is struggling to  recover from a devastating January earthquake.
The protesters in Port-au-Prince set fire to the  headquarters of Preval’s ruling (Inite) coalition. Businesses  and schools stayed closed and many fearful residents stayed  home, off the rubble-strewn streets.
Plumes of black smoke rose above the sprawling, crowded  city, which still bears the scars of the Jan. 12 earthquake  that killed more than 250,000 people in the Western  Hemisphere’s poorest state, which is also battling a raging  cholera epidemic.
The protests erupted in the Petionville, Delmas and Canape  Vert districts of the capital, among other areas.
Local radio also reported protests in the southern town of  Les Cayes in which Martelly supporters burned down government  buildings, including the tax and customs offices.
LOCAL POLICE APPEAR OVERWHELMED
Shouting slogans against Preval, the enraged protesters  carried sticks and portraits of Martelly, a star of Haiti’s  Kompa music who has already accused the president of trying to  rig the election in favor of Celestin, a government  technocrat.
“Hang Preval!” protesters yelled.
Apparently overwhelmed, Haiti’s police made no attempt to  halt the protesters, witnesses said. Besides an occasional  patrol, there was also no sign of United Nations peacekeepers  trying to intervene, they added.
American Airlines suspended its flights to and from Haiti,  local staff told reporters. Port-au-Prince’s airport appeared  to be closed but there was no immediate confirmation.
The United States, through its embassy in Port-au-Prince,  immediately questioned the CEP results late on Tuesday, saying  it was concerned they were “inconsistent with” vote counts  observed around the country by “numerous domestic and  international observers.
The election unrest could badly hinder a U.N.-led fight  against the unchecked cholera epidemic in the country.
The United Nations mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) and a joint  Organization of American States/Caribbean Community election  observer mission had given a cautious initial endorsement of  the vote, despite acknowledging irregularities.
But U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday said the  electoral irregularities were “more serious than initially  thought” and called on Haiti’s leadership and election  candidates to negotiate a “Haitian solution” to avert  violence.