Shootout kills 2 at rally in Haiti backing Aristide

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — A shootout between police and protesters killed two men and injured seven during a demonstration in support of Jean-Bertrand Aristide Thursday as the exiled Haitian president planned a return to the Caribbean.

The violence erupted as hundreds of protesters marched through the Belair neighborhood of Port-au-Prince yelling "Aristide has to come back! We don't want Bush as president!"

Shots were fired and some protesters pulled out pistols. Police fired tear gas, and a shootout between protesters and police ensued, witnesses said.

Two young men were killed, and seven others were being treated for shotgun wounds, hospital officials said.

U.S. Marines, who are in Haiti to try to restore order, said they were patrolling near the protest but had nothing to do with the shootout.

Marines raided a house near the presidential palace before dawn Thursday in their first action of a new mission to disarm Haiti's many factions.

The search produced no weapons, but "The message out of this is, we are looking, and we will continue to do so," Col. Charles Gurganus said.

Aristide is in the Central African Republic, but he and his wife will fly to Jamaica, just 130 miles from Haiti, for a temporary stay early next week, Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson said Thursday. There they will be reunited with their two young daughters, who were sent to New York before Aristide left Haiti on Feb. 29.

Aristide has said the United States forced him out of office and claims he is still Haiti's democratically elected leader.

Last week, a summit of the 15-nation Caribbean Community in Jamaica called for a U.N. investigation into Aristide's departure. That call was echoed Wednesday by the 53-nation African Union, which said his removal was "unconstitutional." The two blocs comprise nearly one-third of U.N. member states.

Patterson said Aristide would stay only eight to 10 weeks while he finalized plans for "permanent residence outside of the region." Another Jamaican official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said South Africa was Aristide's final destination.

In Port-au-Prince, opposition politician Paul Denis said Jamaica was "making matters worse" for Haiti.

"If Aristide intends to come back to Haiti, we'll be glad to receive him, so we can arrest him," he said.

The opposition wants Aristide to stand trial for alleged corruption and the killings of opponents by armed gangs.