PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Gunfire erupted Monday during protests over election results in Haiti and at least one supporter of leading presidential candidate Rene Preval was killed. Witnesses said U.N. peacekeepers opened fire on the crowd, but a U.N. spokesman denied that.
Witnesses said Jordanian U.N. peacekeepers opened fire on them, killing two and wounding four.
David Wimhurst, a U.N. spokesman in Haiti, denied in a phone interview that peacekeepers opened fire.
Associated Press journalists saw the body of a man in the street in the Tabarre neighborhood. He was wearing a blood-soaked T-shirt bearing an image of Preval. The body of the second victim was not at the scene.
"We were peacefully protesting when the U.N. started shooting. There were a lot of shots. Everybody ran," said Walrick Michel, 22, one of the pro-Preval protesters.
Hundreds of screaming demonstrators elsewhere stormed into an upscale hotel housing an electoral office in the hills above Port-au-Prince and helicopters landed on the roof to evacuate guests.
Protesters have alleged the electoral commission is manipulating the vote count to prevent leading candidate and Preval, a one-time protege of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, from winning a first-round victory in this battered and poor Caribbean nation.
No violence was reported at the Montana hotel, where election officials have announced results of Tuesday's presidential and parliamentary elections.
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