PORT-AU-PRINCE, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Around 200 protesters demanding that Haiti's outgoing President Rene Preval leave office immediately set up burning barricades on Monday and threw stones at police and U.N. peacekeepers in the capital Port-au-Prince, witnesses said.
Haitian riot police fired some shots in the air to try to disperse the demonstrators, who shouted "Preval must go" and set fire to tires and piles of garbage in a central square.
A deciding second round of Haiti's presidential election is scheduled to be held on March 20 to choose a successor to Preval, whose mandate formally ends today Feb. 7. Preval has parliament approval to stay on if necessary until May 14 so he can hand over to an elected successor, but some opponents want him to step down in favor of a provisional government.
(Reporting by Allyn Gaestel; Editing by Pascal Fletcher and Editing by Sandra Maler)
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