Haiti protesters want Preval out, clash with police

PORT-AU-PRINCE, (Reuters) – Several hundred  protesters clashed with riot police in Haiti’s capital yesterday to demand that outgoing President Rene Preval leave  office immediately as the country moved toward a deciding  presidential run-off vote.

The police, backed by United Nations peacekeepers who were  standing by, fired shots in the air and tear gas canisters to  keep the chanting, stone-throwing demonstrators back from the  presidential palace in central Champs de Mars square in  Port-au-Prince. “Preval must go,” the demonstrators yelled.

Tear gas canisters fell into a crowded tent camp in the  square housing thousands of survivors from Haiti’s devastating  2010 earthquake, and the stinging smoke sent women and children  fleeing, the women howling angrily in protest.

Rene Preval

A deciding second round of Haiti’s presidential election is  scheduled to be held on March 20 to choose a successor to  Preval, whose five-year mandate nominally ends today Feb. 7 in  the poor, earthquake-battered Caribbean nation.

A chaotic first round of U.N.-backed presidential and  legislative elections held on Nov. 28 led to weeks of fraud  allegations and sporadic protests, raising fears prolonged  political unrest could jeopardize delivery of billions of  dollars of post-quake reconstruction aid.

Preval, who could not stand for another consecutive term,  has parliament approval to stay on if necessary until May 14 so  he can hand over to an elected successor, but some opponents  want him to step down in favor of a provisional government.

Jean-Bertrand Aristide

“Today at noon, Preval’s mandate expires. He will no longer  be the constitutional president. We are going to block the  whole country to make him go,” said Michel Frederick, 40, one  of the demonstrators.

The protesters battled with dozens of riot police, setting  tires and piles of garbage ablaze and trying to break through  crash barriers in front of the quake-damaged white palace. The  protesters also threw stones at U.N. vehicles.

The U.N.’s top official in Haiti, Edmond Mulet, who heads  the more than 12,000-strong peacekeeping mission there, told  local media the international community was in favor of Preval  staying on to hand over to a successor to be legally elected in  the run-off vote.

“Rene Preval can and should stay in office,” Le Nouvelliste  newspaper quoted Mulet as saying. Preval’s formal assumption of  the presidency was delayed five years ago, and this meant that  under the constitution he could stay on to May 14 to fully  complete a five-year term.