Street vendors clash with police, torch vehicles in central Mexico

Street vendors clash with police, torch vehicles in central Mexico

Thursday, June 26, 2003

(06-26) 07:04 PDT PUEBLA, Mexico (AP) --

Close to 500 street vendors in central Mexico burned 16 vehicles and clashed violently with police to protest a plan restricting their movement during an upcoming municipal festival, authorities said Thursday.

No one was seriously injured in the more than six-hour uprising that occurred Wednesday in San Juan Cuautlancingo, a community just outside the colonial city of Puebla, 65 miles (105 kilometers) southeast of Mexico City.

It began after local officials announced a plan to bar roving vendors from selling their wares in the city center during a local celebration scheduled for Sunday.

A large group of protesters stormed the municipal building, shattering windows and holding 60 city employees and others hostage, briefly trapping them inside the building they were destroying.

More than 80 state police officers rushed to the aid of local authorities, who made 10 arrests.

Police finally launched tear gas canisters and fired pistols in the air to break up the protest, but not before the mob had spilled out into the street, setting fire to 10 police trucks, burning three police motorcycles and destroying three other vehicles.