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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | May 2006 
Mexico Rebel Leader Marcos Joins Rights March for Flower Vendors
 AFP
| | The leader of the Mexican Zapatista Army for National Liberation (EZLN), "Subcomandante Marcos," gestures in Mexico City during a demonstration in support of the citizens of San Salvador Atenco, detained in several prisons of the country after clashing with the police, on May 04, when street vendors violently resisted efforts to relocate them.(AFP/Ronaldo Schemidt) |
Former Zapatista rebel Subcomandante Marcos joined thousands of marchers in the capital on Sunday demanding the release of 49 persons jailed after a police eviction of street flower vendors.
The former leader of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), which sprang up in 1994 in the southern state of Chiapas, joined the crowd, which also demanded respect for the human rights of the detainees, jailed three weeks ago.
The protesters chanted "freedom for political prisoners" and "we are all Atenco," referring to the continued custody of 49 persons after a police crackdown in the town of San Salvador Atenco on May 4.
A spokesman for the office of public safety told AFP that an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 people participated in the march, which ended in a rally at Mexico City's main plaza, the Zocalo.
Police presence was strong, with officers posted every 10 meters (yards) along the march route.
Some participants carried machetes despite public safety office entreaties to leave them at home.
On May 3, police in Atenco forcibly evicted sidewalk flower vendors from their stalls, in a clash that left one youth dead, dozens of wounded and one officer badly beaten by several residents.
Flower vendors who chose not to move their stalls were said to have beaten and kidnapped a group of officers for several hours, which led to the violent police crackdown on May 4, when some 2,000 local and federal police arrested nearly 200 persons.
By May 16, 123 of those arrested had been freed on bail and 17 others had been freed without charges.
Mexico's Human Rights Commission reported last week that 23 women, including four foreigners, had been sexually abused by police after their arrests in Atenco. |
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