Protesters in Haiti demanding the resignation of President Rene Preval stormed the presidential palace in Port au Prince today in an escalation of disturbances over soaring food prices.
Overwhelmed guards struggled to hold back the crowd until UN peacekeepers came to their rescue, firing rubber bullets and tear gas.
Food prices have risen 40 per cent on average since mid-2007 in Haiti, one of the world's poorest countries.
"I compare this situation to having a bucket full of gasoline and having some people around with a box of matches," said Preval adviser Patrick Elie. "As long as the two have a possibility to meet, you're going to have trouble."
For months, Haitians have compared their hunger pains to "eating Clorox" - both because of the burning feeling in their stomachs and the skin-bleaching effects of chronic malnutrition. The most desperate have come to depend on a traditional hunger palliative of biscuits 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. At least five people have been killed there. The protests spread to other cities, and yesterday tens of thousands took to the streets of Port-au-Prince.
Demonstrators barricaded streets in the capital today and pelted a marketplace with rocks, and a crowd tried to break down the gates of the presidential palace, demanding Preval's resignation.
"We are hungry!" the crowd shouted. "He must go!"
Preval, who aides said was at work in the palace during the protests, has made no public statements since the riots began.
The protesters also are demanding the departure of the 9,000 UN peacekeepers, whom they blame in part for rising food prices. The peacekeepers came to Haiti in 2004 to quell the chaos that followed the ouster of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.