Oaxaca battles rage on

Protesters hurling Molotov cocktails clashed with police in Oaxaca this past weekend in the latest flare-up of a conflict that has engulfed the popular tourist destination in southern Mexico for more than six months. Government buildings, including the supreme court of Oaxaca, banks, shops and restaurants were set ablaze, and several streets were blocked by burning vehicles. The battle began when protesters armed with homemade wooden shields–demanding the resignation of the state governor Ulises Ruiz–tried to encircle federal police who have occupied the city's central plaza for almost a month. According to police, the violence broke out on Nov. 25 after masked youths broke away from a protest march by about 4,000 people and began attacking police and buildings in Oaxaca City. But protest leaders told a different story, saying the fighting did not begin until groups of Ruiz's political party members started provoking the demonstrators with insults and shooting marbles with slingshots. They say their response was defensive. Bands of young people rampaged through downtown, pushing shopping carts filled with rocks and Molotov cocktails. Twenty vehicles were torched and three hotels were also attacked. Fires also damaged four buildings housing government offices, one university building and the state hotel association. Columns of police, backed by water cannons, pushed the rioters back, while coming under a hail of projectiles, many of them fireworks shot from homemade bazooka-like tubes. The protesters said 38 activists had been injured, two seriously, while the Red Cross said it assisted 80 people. The Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO), which heads the protest movement, blamed infiltrators for the violence. At one point, APPO's leader, Flavio Sosa, was shouted down when he appealed for order. He told reporters: "The APPO declares that the situation is out of control." Police had resumed control of the central area by the next day. Authorities said about 200 people had been arrested. APPO said that 800 people have been detained or disappeared so far. Independent journalists say that at least three people were killed by paramilitaries affiliated with Ruiz. The conflict in Oaxaca began as a teachers' pay dispute in May, but soon grew into a much broader protest against poverty and social injustice in the state. APPO was formed in June from a diverse collection of social groups, and took control of the city center, effectively running Governor Ruiz out of town. Human rights groups allege that the governor responded by ordering a number of paramilitary-style shootings. APPO says 14 activists have been killed during the conflict, including US journalist Brad Will, whose death helped give a pretext for the federal police occupation last month. President Vicente Fox ordered the federal forces into Oaxaca with a brief to re-establish order, but they are seen by protesters as helping Ruiz hang on to power. The governor has refused to resign, despite strong hints–from the federal government and his own party–that he should do so. While APPO has lost territory, the group still commands public support and there is no indication that it is about to dissolve. The chaos in Oaxaca, and the thorny question of how to extricate federal forces, poses a serious challenge for the president-elect, Felipe Calderón, when he takes office this week. Meanwhile, Oaxaca's tourist industry has been effectively shut down.