One person has been shot dead during demonstrations in favor of former Haitian president which erupted at a funeral service for a well-known priest.

"It was one of our supporters. He was killed by Brazilian UN soldiers," one of the demonstrators told Haitian television.

Thousands of people had turned out on Thursday for the funeral of Father Gerard Jean-Juste, who died two weeks ago in Florida and was close to the former president Jean Bertrand Aristide.

"It seems that one person was killed close to the cathedral. The first reports we have show that the soldiers fired in the air," said Sophie Boutaud de la Combe, spokeswoman for the UN forces in Haiti.

"The blue helmets were apparently attacked by stone-throwing demonstrators from different parts of the town center," she added.

The unrest came a day after a UN vehicle was set on fire by demonstrators demanding that UN forces leave Haiti, accusing them of using tear gas to end the protests.

Haitian students have been demonstrating for the past two weeks demanding that the rate of the minimum salary should be revised. But the protests have regularly ended in violence.

SG/SME