Several thousand people protest Haiti gov't
Sep 30, 2012 | 743 views | 0 0 comments | 3 3 recommendations | email to a friend | print
A demonstrator holds signs with images of former Haiti's President Jean Bertrand Aristide during a protest against Haiti's President Michel Martelly government in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery
A demonstrator holds signs with images of former Haiti's President Jean Bertrand Aristide during a protest against Haiti's President Michel Martelly government in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery
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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Several thousand people poured into the streets of Haiti's capital on Sunday to protest the government of President Michel Martelly.

It was among the biggest demonstrations this year in Port-au-Prince against the first-time leader as he tries to rebuild the impoverished nation following a powerful 2010 earthquake that displaced more than a million people and destroyed thousands of homes.

Demonstrators' complaints included the high cost of living, rising food prices and allegations of corruption as they snaked through the poorer neighborhoods Port-au-Prince. Some protesters carried small red cards to suggest that Martelly has committed too many fouls since he was sworn in as president in May 2011.

The Martelly government had no immediate public reaction to the protest.

Martelly, a pop music star before he turned to politics, presented himself as an outsider when he ran for the presidency. He promised free schooling and houses for people displaced by the earthquake. But some Haitians complain that Martelly has fallen short of improving their lives in one of the poorest countries in the world.

"The president has made so many promises but nothing has become a reality," protester Max Dorlien said. "It's only a clique of his friends who are making money."

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