Emergency Protest : International Day in Solidarity with Haiti, with multi-city protests on 4 Continents (Los Angeles, Feb 8)

		*** STOP UN 'Peacekeeper' Massacres and sexual abuse in Haiti *** Free All Political Prisoners *** End Foreign Occupation of Haiti; bring coup plotters to justice *** Respect Haiti’s Sovereignty – Return President Aristide
Thursday, Feb. 8 12 Noon Outside Brazilian Consulate, 8484 Wilshire Blvd/nr La Cienega Brazil leads the UN occupation of Haiti

Supporters of Aristide protest occupation

Massacres by the UN occupiers of Haiti continue. The 8000 UN troops are a proxy force for the US who, with the support of France and Canada, backed a coup against Haiti’s government in 2004 and kidnapped President Aristide. Haiti is the first Black Republic - the French were defeated in1804 by those enslaved. President Aristide, a representative of the Lavalas movement, had wide popular support among Haiti’s poor who are 90% of the population.

Despite the election of President Preval, the UN refuses to end its military occupation, and UN troops and police-controlled death squads routinely assault communities that support the Lavalas grassroots democracy movement. They are responsible for killings, sexual abuse, beatings, house burnings, arbitrary arrests, and prolonged, illegal detention of people without any charges.

In the pre-dawn of December 22nd, 400 Brazilian-led UN troops began a day-long raid in Cite Soleil, a stronghold of support for President Aristide. They fired heavy weapons from tanks and helicopters into people's homes. More than 30 residents were killed including women and children. UN troops blocked Red Cross access to the area, refusing medical care to people they had injured, including numerous children.

The grassroots movement in Haiti has called for coordinated international protests around February 7, to raise the demand: All foreign occupation forces must leave Haiti now!

Let us act now in solidarity with our Haitian sisters and brothers, whose unbreakable spirit, in the face of severe repression, won’t stop.

The protest in Los Angeles is called by the Ad Hoc Working Group on Haiti, which includes: ANSWER Coalition, Coalition in Solidarity with Haiti, Global Women’s Strike/LA, International Action Center, Pan African Activist Coalition For more information call 323-292-7405 www.globalwomenstrike.net