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Education grievances spark Haitian rioting
May 15, 1997
Web posted at: 10:19 p.m. EDT (0219 GMT)PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CNN) -- Students and other demonstrators occupying a high school threw firebombs at police Thursday on the fourth day of protests demanding improvements in education.
Police fired back with tear gas and bullets. Several people were wounded. The rioting spread to downtown streets, where protesters torched cars and a courthouse.
In a separate, peaceful demonstration, about 200 striking teachers and supporters marched through the capital, demanding an 82 percent wage hike. Haiti's largest teachers' union did not participate, claiming the protest was actually advancing the political agenda of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Private schools in Port-au-Prince closed Thursday out of concern that public school students would attack their facilities. About half of the school-age children in Haiti do not attend school, because their families cannot afford it.
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