Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Haitians riot, loot over soaring food prices

Will this happen in INDIA, with rising inflation and depending on other food sources the situation that has occured in Haiti can occur in India if the RULERS mind remains as now. Our Sharad Pawar doesn't know the correct wheat storagein India ,he is busy sitting with criceters and IPL.
source

Wednesday, April 9, 2008 (Haiti)
Hungry Haitians stormed the presidential palace on Tuesday to demand the resignation of President Rene Preval over soaring food prices and UN peacekeepers battled rioters with rubber bullets and tear gas. Rioters were chased away from the presidential palace but by late afternoon had left trails of destruction across Port-au-Prince. Concrete barricades and burned-out cars blocked streets, while windows were smashed and buildings set on fire from the capital's center up through its densely populated hills.Outnumbered UN peacekeepers watched as people looted businesses near the presidential palace, not budging from the building's perimeter. Nearby, but out of sight of authorities, another group swarmed a slow-moving car and tried to drag its female driver out the window.''We are hungry! He must go!'' protesters shouted as they tried to break into the presidential palace by charging its chained gates with a rolling dumpster. Moments later, Brazilian soldiers in blue UN helmets arrived on jeeps and assault vehicles, firing rubber bullets and tear gas canisters and forcing protesters away from the gates.Food prices, which have risen 40 per cent on average since mid-2007, are causing unrest around the world. But nowhere do they pose a greater threat to democracy than in Haiti, one of the world's poorest countries where in the best of times most people struggle to fill their bellies.For months, Haitians have compared their hunger pains to ''eating Clorox'' because of the burning feeling in their stomachs. The most desperate have come to depend on a traditional hunger palliative of cookies made of dirt, vegetable oil and salt.Riots broke out in the normally placid southern port of Les Cayes last week, quickly escalating as protesters tried to burn down a UN compound and leaving five people dead. The protests spread to other cities, and on Monday tens of thousands took to the streets of Port-au-Prince.

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