Posted on Tue, Jul. 15, 2008

Police fired tear gas to disperse protesters who had stormed past barricades near the National Palace during a rally marking the 55th birthday of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Tuesday.

Haitian police had erected barricades at the Champs de Mars, the central plaza of Port-au-Prince, to prevent demonstrators from reaching the National Palace, about two blocks away. But several hundred people surged through and were repelled by riot police firing tear gas.

The protest had until then been largely peaceful. It began when several hundred Aristide supporters gathered outside the ex-president's former home and swelled to several thousand as they marched across the capital chanting ''We need Titid'' -- Aristide's nickname.

After the tear gas was fired, thousands remained at the barricades, waving branches, blocking traffic and singing Nelson Ned's 1974 hit, ''Happy Birthday My Darling,'' which was blasted from a speaker truck.

Organizers were angered by the police response and accused President Rene Preval of trying to silence their demonstration.

''He thinks he is secure because he is surrounded by rich people,'' Annette ''So Ann'' Auguste, a Lavalas executive committee member, said of Preval. ``But when they throw him down, we'll be there to get him.''

The protest was a reminder that Aristide and his Lavalas party retain political force in Haiti. Five thousand people joined a march marking the fourth anniversary of his ouster in February. Aristide escaped Haiti in 2004 amid a violent rebellion. He now lives in South Africa and accuses the U.S. of staging the coup that ousted him -- a charge the U.S. denies.

Tuesday's march was also meant to protest rising food prices, which have deepened poverty in Haiti, already the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere and prompted its Senate to dismiss the prime minister, said Mario Styr, one of Tuesday's lead demonstrators. At least seven people died during violent protests and looting sparked by climbing food costs in April.

Haiti's parliament has rejected two of Preval's nominees to replace the ousted prime minister and was expected to vote this week on a third candidate, Michele Pierre-Louis.