Gunfire killed at least one person as supporters of Haitian presidential front-runner René Préval took over the streets of Port-au-Prince on Monday, erecting roadblocks and storming a luxury hotel.

Dozens of witnesses said UN peacekeepers opened fire on protesters who were demanding Préval be declared winner of the Feb. 7 election. The gunfire killed at least one person and injured four others, they said.

However, a United Nations spokesperson denied that the shots came from the peacekeepers, who are part of a 9,000-member force sent to stabilize the Caribbean country before the presidential and parliamentary poll.

A roadblock just outside the Cite Soleil slum in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Monday, Feb. 13. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
A roadblock just outside the Cite Soleil slum in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Monday, Feb. 13. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

David Wimhurst, who speaks on behalf of the UN mission, called the allegations "absolutely false" and said they may have arisen from confusion.

"We fired two warning shots into the air and we didn't injure anyone," he said.

"Some time later, shots were fired by unknown persons in the same area."

Associated Press reporters saw a man's body in the street and said witnesses told them UN peacekeepers killed him as well as a second person, and wounded four others.

"We were peacefully protesting when the UN started shooting," Walrick Michel, a pro-Préval demonstrator, told AP.

"There were a lot of shots. Everybody ran."

The protesters, who come largely from Haiti's impoverished majority, were enraged because partial results show Préval's lead slipping below the 50 per cent he needs to dodge a runoff election.

Protesters raid hotel, erect roadblocks

Elsewhere in the capital, thousands of protesters poured through the streets, banging drums, honking horns and chanting "Préval is president!"

Some of them paralyzed traffic by constructing roadblocks of burning tires, wrecked cars and tree branches.

Hundreds of others stormed into the luxury hotel that houses a main electoral office, forcing authorities to evacuate the building by helicopter from the roof.

One report said Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu was in the hotel at the time.

Schools shut down and the United Nations warned its employees to stay home, unless they were on peacekeeping duty.

Préval's lead drops below 50 per cent

Early results suggested Préval won more than 60 per cent of the vote, but his share had dropped to 48.7 per cent by Monday, with about 90 per cent of the 2.2 million ballots counted.

His closest rival, Leslie Manigat, had about 11.8 per cent, while the top choice of the business elite, Charles Baker, held 7.9 per cent.

Electoral officials call for probe of vote count

Many of Préval's supporters have grown frustrated with the wait for results, while some of them have accused the country's elite of orchestrating a vote fraud.

Their accusations gained strength when two of the nine members of the Provisional Electoral Council said the vote count was being manipulated.

Préval, a former protege of ousted Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was president from 1996 to 2001.

His backers hope he can stabilize the country and end the violence that pervades the Caribbean nation. Despite the presence of UN forces, armed gangs roam the streets and violent incidents are common.