Armed gangs threw up flaming barricades and looters struck Haiti's chaotic capital before an expected rebel advance that sent foreigners fleeing the country.
Haitian president, Mr Jean-Bertrand Aristide, has appealed for international help as he tries to fend off a bloody three-week-old revolt against his presidency by insurgents, including a former death squad leader and a former senior police officer.
Masked men loyal to Mr Aristide cut off streets in the capital with piles of wrecked cars, rusted appliances, rocks and tires. They searched cars and questioned motorists as the city braced for a rebel assault promised within days.In Washington, President Bush rebuffed Mr Aristide's appeal for immediate security assistance to head off a rebel attack, saying peacekeepers could only be sent once a political settlement to the crisis was reached.
He also said he had instructed the Coast Guard to "turn back any refugee" from Haiti who seeks to land on US shores.
Hours later, the US Coast Guard intercepted a freighter off Miami with more than 20 Haitians on board, but it could not immediately confirm television reports that the vessel may have been hijacked by people fleeing Haiti.The United States clearly wants to avoid a repeat of a 1990s influx when tens of thousands of Haitians tried to escape the turmoil in their homeland by setting out for Florida in boats.More than 60 people have died in Haiti since February 5th when the rebels, a collection of gangs and ex-soldiers, began the revolt by overrunning the western city of Gonaives.