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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | August 2006 
Mexico Riot Police Seal Congress to Vote Protesters
 Gunther Hamm - Reuters
| | Hundreds of Mexican riot police in black body armor sealed Congress on Tuesday after violent clashes with leftist protesters and legislators who say last month's presidential election was stolen. (Reuters/Stringer) |
Hundreds of Mexican riot police in black body armor sealed Congress on Tuesday after violent clashes with leftist protesters and legislators who say last month's presidential election was stolen.
Police blocked streets around the Congress building, closing the area to prevent the return of demonstrators who want to rebuild a tent city to protest what they say was election fraud.
With the imposing concrete building surrounded by police, no protesters went near Congress on Tuesday.
About 15 legislators from the left-wing party whose presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador narrowly lost the July 2 election, were among those hurt on Monday when police tore down tents in their partially built camp, tear gassed protesters and drove them back with clubs.
It was the first violence since the election protests began weeks ago.
Lopez Obrador accused the government of repression.
"They are revealing their authoritarianism, as in the worst moments of the country's history," he told cheering supporters in Mexico City's vast Zocalo square on Monday night.
Eduardo Medina-Mora, Mexico's public security minister, defended the use of force on Tuesday.
"We regret the friction, but when it is inevitable, what can we do?" he said. "I do not see repression, I see an application of procedures."
In another pressure move, dozens of Lopez Obrador supporters blockaded the entrance of the Spanish embassy in Mexico City.
Spain's leftist government was one of the first countries to congratulate conservative Felipe Calderon on his election victory, at a time when the result is still disputed.
Lopez Obrador, who says more than 100,000 votes were miscounted or are missing, has warned he will stop conservative Calderon from taking office if his demands for a full recount are not met.
Supporters of Lopez Obrador, who have turned central Mexico City into a sea of tents, want to take their protests to President Vicente Fox's state of the nation speech to Congress on September 1.
Mexico's electoral court must name a new president by September 6. Despite weeks of demonstrations and legal battles, most observers expect magistrates will rule in favor of Calderon.
The court on Sunday finished a partial recount of 9 percent of ballot boxes, and is expected to rule soon on whether there was fraud.
Returns from the recount showed Calderon lost several thousand votes but not enough to change the original result, which gave him a winning margin of around 244,000 votes, or just 0.58 of a percentage point. |
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