NEW YORK. - Several New York-based international organizations yesterday picketed in front of the Dominican consulate, to protest the alleged mistreatment of Haitian immigrants who live and work in the Dominican Republic, newspaper Diario Libre says.

Representatives of the organizations Grassroothaiti, Haitian Solidarity Committee and the Dominican-Haitian Solidarity Network among them, voiced slogans against the Dominican government and handed out flyers and other materials denouncing the situation of "slavery and “denial" of the rights of Haitians in the neighboring Caribbean country.

From before 5 p.m. the activists began to gather at 1501 Brodway, site of the Dominican consular offices chanting “Dominican government stop mistreating our workers and inmigrants."

The protesters unsuccessfully tried to hand their demands to a Dominican government representative, including a migratory amnesty, a halt to the deportations and the alleged mistreatment of Haitians.

Estimates of the number of Haitians currently in the Dominican Republic range from 700,000 to as high as more than one million, a situation Immigration director Carlos Amarante called "untenable" a few days ago.

Recently the Jesuit priests who work with the Haitians along the northern border area around Dajabón denounced a trafficking of Haitian children to Dominican side, at a cost of four dollars each.