PORT-AU-PRINCE -- (AP) -- Government opponents announced a week of strikes and protests aimed at toppling President Jean-Bertrand Aristide as a delegation from the Caribbean Community arrived Monday to help mediate in Haiti's political crisis.

The delegation's visit came after bloody clashes between police and demonstrators marred celebrations last week marking Haiti's 200th anniversary of independence.

A coalition of civil groups and opposition parties announced plans for a demonstration Wednesday and a two-day general strike Thursday and Friday as they press for Aristide's ouster.

''Our principle is everyone together to save the nation,'' said Charles Henry Baker, a businessman and prominent Aristide opponent.

The team from the 15-member Caribbean Community was headed by Colin Granderson, an assistant secretary general of the regional bloc known as CARICOM.

''We've come on a fact-finding mission to see what CARICOM can do to help Haiti out as a mediator or a facilitator,'' Granderson told The Associated Press.

With him on the three-day trip were St. Lucian Ambassador Sonia Johnny, Bahamian Ambassador Joshua Sears and Jamaican Ambassador Peter Black.

The group is to hold talks with Aristide, antigovernment opponents and others, including clergy and business leaders.

The opposition has criticized the Caribbean Community as being partial to Aristide, although at last week's bicentennial the group sent only two high-ranking delegates.

Haiti became the regional bloc's 15th member in 2002.

Tensions have been rising in Haiti since Aristide's Lavalas Family party swept the 2000 legislative elections, which some observers said were flawed.

The opposition, which refuses to participate in new elections unless Aristide resigns, last week called for the formation of a transitional government headed by a Supreme Court justice and a nine-member council.

Aristide refuses to step down, and government leaders say they won't buckle under opposition pressure to push a democratically elected leader from power.

''The aim of our peaceful struggle is to implement the proposal for an alternative government,'' said Mischa Gaillard, an opposition leader.

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