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10/28/2004:

"Haitians Say Police Killed 13 in Pro - Aristide Slum"

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) - Residents of a Port-au-Prince slum accused Haitian police on Wednesday of executing 13 people believed to be supporters of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Police denied the accusations. Workers at the General Hospital morgue in the capital said they received the bodies of seven people killed by gunshots in the Fort National neighborhood, and a Reuters reporter saw pools of dried blood at the site where neighbors said the killings occurred.

The allegations came as Haitian interim authorities launched an offensive to end a wave of pro- and anti-Aristide violence that has killed at least 70 people since Sept. 30.

Residents of the populous Fort National slum, where Aristide enjoyed strong support, said police stormed a house on Tuesday and executed 13 people they had forced to lie on the ground.

``Heavily armed policemen made a raid here and killed everybody. There was no resistance and nobody had a gun,'' a neighbor named Jacqueline told Reuters. ``It was massacre. I heard the victims crying, 'No, no,''' said the woman, who did not give her full name for fear of reprisals.

``When they (the police) came, they said very loudly, 'Everybody on the ground!' One of them said 'Kill them,''' said Arnoud Jean-Louis, 36, another neighbor. ``Then, I heard a series of gun bursts, the next thing I saw the police were dragging them out to put them in a vehicle.''

Full Article:nytimes.com