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Last Updated: Apr 10, 2008 - 11:10:37 AM |
Haiti's president tried to halt a week of rioting Wednesday by calling for tax cuts on imported food, but the capital descended deeper into chaos as looters and protesters took control of the streets.
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| Police officers disperse demonstrators in Port-au-Prince, Wednesday, April 09, 2008. Haiti's President Rene Preval is calling on Haitians to quit riots over high food prices, telling them 'I'm giving you orders to stop.' In his first public remarks since the unrest began last week, Preval told Haitians that the soaring food prices are a global phenomenon.
(AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos) |
Bands of young men carrying sticks and rocks set up roadblocks of burning tires. Mobs looted stores, warehouses and government offices and gunfire rang through slums and upscale neighborhoods alike. Businesses were closed and few cars were on the streets. Police and U.N. peacekeepers patrolled in pickup trucks but were unable to control the city.
Haiti's U.S.-backed president, Rene Preval, delivered his first public address since the rioting began last week, urging Congress to cut food taxes and appealing to the rioters to go home.
"The solution is not to go around destroying stores," he said. "I'm giving you orders to stop."
The speech had been widely anticipated by observers who said Preval's response could determine the course of the demonstrations — and of his government.
"I believe if President Preval talks to the people about the high cost of living, people will listen to the president and go home," said Sen. Joseph Lambert, a former senate president and a member of Preval's party. "If not, if there is an attempt at a coup d'etat to remove the president, things will get worse."
Food prices, which have risen 40 percent on average globally since mid-2007, are causing unrest around the world. But they pose a particular threat to democracy in Haiti, where most people live on less than US$2 (euro1.27) a day.
Preval acknowledged that in his address, saying Haiti's predicament comes partly from its dependence on imported rice that has weakened national production.
But it was unclear whether the address would appease the rioters, who are demanding Preval's resignation for failing for tame the rising prices. On Tuesday, U.N. peacekeepers had to use tear gas and rubber bullets to chase away a mob that tried to storm the presidential palace.
On Wednesday, helicopters circled the air amid black smoke rising from intersections as protesters set tires ablaze, and gunfire was heard throughout Petionville, where many diplomats and foreigners live. On the road to the airport, groups of protesters surrounded makeshift barricades and threw rocks at passing cars.
Looters could be seen sacking a supermarket and several gas-station mini-marts. Radio stations reported the looting of a government rice warehouse outside Port-au-Prince and the office of Petionville's mayor.
Protests were also reported Wednesday in two northern towns, St. Marc and Cap-Haitien.
Several people have been injured by bullets and rocks in the capital, including a Haitian police officer, U.N. police spokesman Fred Blaise said. Five people have been killed in food riots in the southern city of Les Cayes, where protesters tried to burn down the U.N. compound last week.
The U.S. Embassy suspended visa services and routine operations Wednesday because of the violence, and advised Americans in Port-au-Prince and Les Cayes to remain indoors. Embassy buildings were pelted with rocks Tuesday but there were no reports of injuries to U.S. citizens.
"We hope the president says food prices are going to go down," said Paul Fleury, a 53-year-old man who has been unemployed for a decade. "I have five kids and I provide food if I can. Some days it's bread and sugar."
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