Residents of Haiti city protest ex-leader’s visit

The protest started because former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide visted the Haiti city to gather support for the Upcomming Presidential election.

After visiting a cathedral and a police station, the Lavalas campaigners quickly departed for the northern city of Cap-Haitien.

Some residents of a Haitian city demonstrated against a campaign visit by polarizing ex-leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide who is supporting the presidential hopeful of the political faction he founded decades ago. Aristide and Lavalas party candidate Maryse Narcisse cut short a Friday visit to Gonaives after residents of the Raboteau slum began to protest their presence. A violent 2004 rebellion that ousted Aristide from power for a second time first erupted in Gonaives. Aristide and Narcisse walked through Gonaives’ streets with police escorts before Raboteau residents started burning tires and chanting “Down with Lavalas.” After visiting a cathedral and a police station, the Lavalas campaigners quickly departed for the northern city of Cap-Haitien. Aristide remains a highly divisive figure in Haiti, popular with some and reviled by others.