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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | October 2006 
Protesters Vow to Retake Oaxaca Center
 Mark Stevenson - Associated Press
| | A man tries to calm fellow protesters as the federal police are seen in the background near the main plaza of Oaxaca, Mexico on Monday Oct. 30, 2006. Several thousand angry protesters marched to the center of Oaxaca's capital on Monday, vowing to retake the city from federal police sent to restore order after months of protests demanding the ouster of the southern state's governor. (AP/Eduardo Verdugo) |
Thousands of protesters driven from the city center by federal police after months of paralyzing demonstrations vowed to retake the main plaza on Monday, but strike-weary residents pleaded for a return to life as usual.
Oaxaca remained deeply divided between the protesters demanding Gov. Ulises Ruiz's resignation and those yearning for a return to the tranquil days when foreign tourists browsed shops and dined on the region's famous mole sauce.
"Fight, fight, fight! Don't stop fighting!" the protesters chanted before arriving at the central main plaza, the Zocalo, which served as their headquarters for months.
Facing off with columns of 3,500 police who blocked their access to the square, the demonstrators screamed "Murderers! Murderers!" as they lit fires and tossed Molotov cocktails and fireworks that fell short of police lines.
The protesters did not attempt to break through police barricades and there were no direct clashes between the two sides. One officer was taken to the hospital after being hit by fireworks.
About 2,000 protesters regrouped in a plaza just a few blocks from the Zocalo, saying they would establish that as their base until they could retake the main plaza.
Ignoring protesters who screamed "Sellout!" a group of about 20 residents and business owners waged earlier countermarches to thank federal police for clearing away the demonstrators, who had kept the city under siege since May, shutting down businesses and repelling the scores of national and international tourists who traditionally are drawn to the picturesque colonial city of 275,000.
"Let them stay," Edith Mendoza, a 40-year-old housewife, said of the police. "We were held hostage for five months."
The city resembled a battleground early Monday, its streets littered with charred cars and lines of federal police blocking entrances to the Zocalo.
Inside the central plaza, guarded by hundreds of uniformed police in riot gear and manning water cannons, workers labored feverishly to remove and paint over graffiti, rip down banners and clean up tons of accumulated trash. The kiosk in the heart of the plaza, covered with protest banners and graffiti during the demonstrations, had already been restored to its original state.
The protests began as a teacher's strike but quickly spiraled into chaos as anarchists, students and Indian groups seized the central plaza and barricaded streets throughout the city to demand Ruiz's ouster.
Eight people have died in clashes. Protesters claim that police and state forces — often in plainclothes — have shot at protesters, setting off the violence.
The federal government indicated that it had no intention of letting the protesters take back the city. Interior Secretary Carlos Abascal said the federal forces would stay until order had been established.
President Vicente Fox said "today in Oaxaca social order and peace has been restored." Later he said he would implement programs to help Oaxaca recover its image as a top tourist destination. He did not elaborate.
Fox, who leaves office Dec. 1, had resisted repeated calls to send federal forces to Oaxaca until Saturday, a day after gunfire killed a U.S. activist-journalist and two residents.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists called for the Mexican government to investigate the killing of activist-journalist Bradley Roland Will, 36, of New York. Protesters say local police shot him.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said he wasn't aware of any suspects being identified in Will's death and that "we would hope that the matter is investigated vigorously."
The federal government's decision to send forces into Oaxaca came after teachers agreed to return to work by Monday, ending a strike that kept 1.3 million children out of classes across the southern state.
But teachers union leader Enrique Rueda told The Associated Press that no students had returned to class in the capital on Monday, although some had in cities and towns outside of Oaxaca City.
A scattering of businesses, including the city's famous marketplace, reopened Monday. As shoppers browsed through the market's stalls, stocked with supplies of fresh marigolds to celebrate the upcoming Day of the Dead, others lined up at several automatic teller machines that had reopened. But most of the city remained shuttered.
Ruiz — whom the protesters accuse of corruption and rigging elections — was scheduled to give his state-of-the-state address on Monday.
In Mexico City, the lower house of Congress on Monday called for Ruiz to resign, but he showed no signs of doing so. In a television interview, he said his departure "is not up for discussion."
"This is not the solution. The solution is the construction of agreements."
On the Net: U.S. journalist's video (Spanish site): http://video.indymedia.org/en/2006/10/542.shtml |
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