Agence France Presse

Port-au-Prince, March 8:

Gunmen opened fire on an opposition rally in Haiti, killing at least six people, including a Spanish journalist, and wounding 34 more as Haitians awaited the na-ming of a new government.

US and French forces helping police with security during yesterday’s demonstration moved onto the lawn of the presidential palace in Port-au-Prince. “The Haitian National Police, as well as French forces and US marines, responded to gunshots by sending a quick reaction force,” said Staff Sergeant Timothy Edwards, a United States military spokesman.

Gunshots were heard at the square and appeared to come from within the crowd, while gunmen opened fire on protesters a few hundred metres away. An angry crowd forced a group of police officers to fire back. Demonstrators promptly dispersed, many running from the square, after the shooting, which began as the rally was breaking up. They blamed the violence on supporters of ex-president Jean Bert-rand Aristide and vented their anger on security forces for failing to prevent the violence.

After the shootings, the Haitian capital’s industrial park was looted, according to witnesses. Looters eme-rged carrying sacks of rice said to have been donated by Taiwan. Rebel leader Guy Philippe said he is ready to take up arms again following the violence. Philippe told local Radio Vision 2000 he would be “obliged very soon to order the troops to take up the arms they laid down” under US pressure.

The insurgent went to talk with some of the wounded at the Canape Vert hospital, where angry Haitians yelled at United States and French soldiers who guarded the entrance, asking to know why they had failed to intervene to prevent violence. “It is extremely urgent that the international force presses the police to re-establish security of life and goods,” said socialist opposition leader Micha Gaillard.