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Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Protests in Haiti over Low Minimum Wage Turn Violent

Al Jazeera English - Americas - Haiti protesters clash with police
Haitian police have clashed with protesters calling for an increase in the minimum wage outside the country's parliament.

As politicians prepared to vote on the issue in Port-au-Prince on Tuesday, some of the 2,000 protesters threw stones at police officers, who responded by firing tear gas to disperse the crowd.

One person was reported to have been injured in the clashes but no arrests were made.

The demonstrators said the minimum wage was insufficient and that they could not provide adequate food and shelter for their families on less than $2 a day.

"Seventy gourdes, that doesn't do anything for me," said Banel Jeune, a clothing factory worker taking part in the protest, referring to his current minimum-wage salary.

"I can't feed my kids, and I can't send them to school."


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