PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) – Defying government loyalists, more than 1,000 protesters demonstrated against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide yesterday as exiled paramilitary forces joined rebels in a bloody uprising that has killed about 50 people.

Shouting “Down with Aristide!” members of a broad opposition alliance known as the Democratic Platform massed for the demonstration in Port-au-Prince, saying they didn’t support violence, but shared the same goal as the rebels – ousting the embattled president.

Militants loyal to Aristide crushed a similar anti-government demonstration on Thursday, stoning opponents and blocking the protest route. Discontent has risen since mid-September.

“We’re still dealing with pacific non-violent means but let me tell you we have one goal,” said Gilbert Leger, a lawyer and opposition member. “We do support (rebel) efforts.”

The rebels launched a rebellion nine days ago from Gonaives, 70 miles (112 kilometers) northwest of Port-au-Prince and Haiti’s fourth-largest city, seeking to oust Aristide.

Although the rebels are thought to number less than Haiti’s 5,000-member police force, exiled paramilitary leaders and police have reportedly joined them.

Two Dominican soldiers were killed on the Dominican border at Dajabon on Saturday and their weapons were taken from them. It was unclear who was responsible for the killings, but in the last few days a commando of 20 men led by an exiled paramilitary leader crossed the border.

Dominican President Hipolito Mejia said Sunday that authorities would arrest any Haitian trying to enter the Dominican Republic suspected of taking part in the uprising.

Louis-Jodel Chamblain, a former Haitian soldier who headed army death squads in 1987 and a militia known as the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti, or FRAPH, which killed and maimed hundreds of people between 1991 and 1994, was seen in Gonaives by several witnesses. He had fled to the Dominican Republic in the mid-’90s.

Also spotted was Guy Philippe, a former police chief who fled to the Dominican Republic after being accused by the Haitian government of fomenting a coup in 2002.

Witnesses reached by telephone said the men were working with rebels in Gonaives but were massing in Saint-Michel de l’Atalaye, about 28 miles (45 kilometers) to the east.

“The violence isn’t a good route,” said demonstrator Himler Rebu, an opposition leader and former army colonel who led a failed coup attempt in 1989 against Lt Gen Prosper Avril. The anti-government demonstrators were protected by throngs of riot police.

Meanwhile in Jamaica, police detained 10 Haitians, including eight police officers, who arrived Saturday by boat to Jamaica’s eastern shore requesting asylum. Police seized eight guns and some ammunition from the men. Immigration authorities were reviewing their asylum requests.

While there has been no reported rise in the numbers of Haitians leaving for US shores, Aristide’s wife – US-born Mildred Trouillot Aristide – reportedly flew to Fort Lauderdale, Florida over the weekend. Haitian press liaison Michelle Karshan said the first lady left to attend a funeral and would return Monday. The couple has two children.

In another twist, the 13-year-old grandson of Mrs Aristide’s aunt and former government social affairs minister, was reportedly kidnapped on Friday, friends of the family told The Associated Press, asking that their names not be used. It was unclear who abducted the boy but there have been reports of at least three other kidnappings since the rebel unrest began.

Discontent has grown in this Caribbean country of eight million people since Aristide’s party swept flawed legislative elections in 2000 and international donors froze millions of dollars.