The morgue at the General Hospital issued an emergency call this afternoon stating that there was no longer space for new corpses and it had reached full
capacity.

October 15, 2004

Haiti slum repels police amid angry protests

Haiti Information Project (HIP)

Port au Prince, Haiti(HIP)- Armed units of the Haitian
National Police (PNH) entered the pro-Ariside slum of
Bel Air as thousands of residents took to streets to
demand the return of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Marchers defied a shutdown of the capital by the
business community and threats issued by the former
military. Heavy gunfire erupted as the police
reportedly fired shots to disperse the crowd. The
police were then forced to withdraw as unidentified
gunmen returned fire from surrounding buildings in a
thunderous volley.

Haiti has been rocked by violence since September 30th
after police opened fire on unarmed demonstrators
demanding the return of President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide and condemning political persecution of his
Lavalas political party. Aristide was ousted last
February 29th amid charges he was kidnapped by U.S.
Marines and is living as guest in the Republic of
South Africa.

Two demonstrators were killed on Sept. 30th and the
U.S.-backed government claimed that the headless
bodies of three policemen were later discovered. The
identities of the headless policemen were released at
a funeral held for them earlier this week. The bodies
of the headless men were reportedly cremated before
journalists and human rights groups were given an
opportunity to perform an independent examination of
the corpses to confirm the government’s claims.

In a statement portraying Aristide’s Family Lavalas
party as terrorists, the Haitian Chamber of Commerce
called for a National Day of Reflection today asking
for all schools and businesses to stay closed and for
all residents of Port au Prince to stay in their
homes. The U.S. Embassy closed its doors as well in a
gesture meant to symbolize their approval of the
business community’s initiative. Several U.S. citizens
expressed their anger at the closure stating that it
“left them defenseless