By
The Associated Press
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - About 200 supporters of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide opened fire on an opposition office yesterday, throwing firebombs at the building and threatening to go after the head of the opposition alliance.
The mob attacked the offices of the Struggling People's Organization, which is part of the Convergence opposition alliance. The attack lasted 15 minutes, said opposition leader Sauvuer Etienne. No injuries were reported.
The Aristide supporters are demanding the arrest of Gerard Gourgue, who leads a 15-party alternative "government" and claims the Aristide administration won last May's legislative elections through fraud. A lawyer and human rights activist, Gourgue was a favorite to win 1987 elections that the army halted.
Aristide's government yesterday condemned any violence, but two top ministers threatened to arrest Gourgue for "usurping the title of president," a violation of the law.
"We are waiting for the police report to be made before making statements, but we condemn violence in whatever shape or form," said government spokesman Mario Dupry.
Aristide won a second term in November, and his party won an 80 percent majority in the parliament. The Organization of American States said 10 Senate seats won by Aristide's party should have gone to a second round, and millions in international aid have been put on hold over the results.
"The government is rushing headlong toward the worst possible solution - political repression," said Jean-Claude Bajeux, a human rights activist who once served as culture minister under Aristide.
On Monday, Aristide backers blocked streets with flaming tires and rusted cars in protests that spread to the capital's suburbs.
Opposition leaders said Aristide supporters shot at their party offices in the capital and stoned opposition members, injuring three of them with rocks.
