Haitian Troops Ordered to End Protests; 5 Shot

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Police fired on angry demonstrators in the capital today, wounding five people just hours after Haiti’s leaders said the nation was on the verge of civil war and ordered the army to put down any new anti-government protests.

The president of the ruling National Council of Government, Lt. Gen. Henri Namphy, in a 1 a.m. television address to the nation, appealed for a halt to the protests that have rocked Haiti for three days.

“We have arrived at a situation involving fires, barricades . . . nearly a civil war. The country is on the verge of anarchy,” Namphy said of the anti-government rioting.

In a broadcast following Namphy’s announcement, Interior Minister William Regala described the rioting as “savage” and said the army was instructed to react “severely and vigorously” to suppress any future illegal protests.

Resignations Demanded

The latest round of violent protests followed demands that Regala, a member of the NGC along with Namphy, and two other council members resign.

Protests against the interim ruling military council have continued sporadically since former President-for-Life Jean Claude Duvalier was deposed last Feb. 7 after a popular uprising ended 29 years of family rule.

In his broadcast, Namphy blamed unidentified and undefined “politicians” for Haiti’s current problems.

“The tension in the country has been amplified by the negative ideologies of politicians who have infiltrated into the healthy midst of the people, exploiting their senses,” the president said.

He accused the unnamed “politicians” of leading the people into rebellion at just the moment when things were getting better in the country.