Scores injured in Mexico as protestors clash with police in Oaxaca

Scores injured in Mexico as protestors clash with police in Oaxaca

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Jul 16, 2007, 20:47 GMT

Oaxaca, Mexico - Scores of people were injured Monday in the worst clashes in months between police and protestors in the southern Mexican city of Oaxaca.

Police used tear gas to disperse members of the radical civic movement Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) and the teachers' trade union who tried to occupy a state-owned auditorium.

APPO has sought to hold an annual dance known as the Guelaguetza at the auditorium in opposition to the official celebration to be held in the same place on July 23 and July 30.

Police, deployed in the area since Saturday, forced the protestors back when they tried to enter the auditorium and a bitter clash followed.

APPO and the teachers, who thwarted last year's Guelaguetza celebration and have threatened to do the same this year, tried to set fire to the 4-star El Fortin hotel and set four buses and a water supply truck ablaze.

Oaxaca was paralyzed by protests for much of 2006 as APPO and the teachers demanded the resignation of Oaxaca state Governor Ulises Ruiz over accusations of corruption, electoral fraud and low wages.

Former Mexican president Vicente Fox was forced to send federal police to regain control of the city in October, but the conflict has threatened to erupt again since.