Police forced back as Mexico violence flares

By Noel Randewich, Reuters

Thousands of protesters hurling Molotov cocktails forced riot police using tear gas and water cannons to retreat on Thursday as clashes spiraled out of control in Mexico's popular tourist city of Oaxaca.

At least eight people were injured in the violence, including a Mexican newspaper photographer who was hit by fireworks launched from the grounds of Oaxaca state's university, a protest center.

Federal police, who had taken over downtown Oaxaca last weekend in a bid to end a long-running conflict that has killed more than a dozen people, were pushed back by hundreds of leftist protesters guarding the entrance to the university.

The activists, who have blockaded the city for five months demanding Gov. Ulises Ruiz step down, threw gasoline bombs at riot police who had been pushing forward through barricades of burned vehicles.

The gray-clad riot police earlier had gained the upper hand as reinforcements arrived in armored trucks and helicopters, spraying protesters with water cannons and firing tear gas canisters.

But they retreated after local residents, angered at the police presence, joined the demonstrators.

As police backed away, the streets in the flashpoint neighborhood filled with thousands of protesters and residents chanting "Ulises has fallen."

The protesters forced local and state police out of the city in June, took over offices, sentenced people accused of theft and charged street corner tolls.

The crisis started with a teachers' strike, but leftist and Indian groups have joined the calls for Ruiz to step down for brutality and corruption.

The conflict in the picturesque state capital is a major headache for outgoing President Vicente Fox, who has promised to resolve it before President-elect Felipe Calderon takes office on December 1.

Fox sent federal police to the colonial city after gunmen apparently linked to local officials shot and killed three people on Friday, including a U.S. activist and journalist.

Rioting coincided with Mexico's annual Day of the Dead festival of graveyard rituals to mark dead ancestors. Oaxaca normally attracts thousands of tourists during the festivities.

PROTESTERS BEATEN

After the armored vehicles burst through the barricades, police chased protesters on foot, fanning out into side streets where small groups of protesters threw rocks and lit fires.

Thousands of protesters then streamed into the area. Some surrounded an armored car, dragging two officers out and beating them before colleagues stepped in to rescue them.

Dozens of police trapped a group of men and women outside a car dealership, knocking them to the ground with batons and only backing away when a superior called them off, a Reuters witness said.

Blood covered the face and shirt of an 80-year-old man who said police had confused him with protesters.

"I feel impotent, I feel angry, I feel like crying," said a woman wearing a surgical mask, who declined to be named. "We are the people."

Protest leader Flavio Sosa said in a radio interview that the demonstrators would not back down until the federal police left the city and until arrested colleagues were released.

"Nobody knows what is coming next with this fascist government," he said. "This is an occupying army."

Mexico's government earlier said in a statement that police would not enter the university. Rules prevent government security forces from entering autonomous state universities.

(Additional reporting by Daniel Aguilar in Oaxaca)