In Oaxaca, Violence Erupts Near Campus
Battles Between Police, Protesters End Two Days of Relative Calm in
Mexican City

By Manuel Roig-Franzia
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, November 3, 2006; A25

OAXACA, Mexico, Nov. 2 -- Thick black smoke darkened the sky over Benito
Juarez Autonomous University on Thursday as Oaxaca erupted in the most
intense fighting since federal police occupied the city on Sunday.

Police bashed through barriers on roads leading to the university and
launched tear-gas canisters at protesters, who fought back with molotov
cocktails and slingshots. But the officers stopped short of crossing into the campus, pulling up as if they had hit an invisible wall.

Unlike in the United States, where college campuses were often the scene
of violent clashes during Vietnam War protests, police are generally
banned by law and by long-standing tradition from entering state
universities in Mexico. The prohibitions have made Benito Juarez a kind of
sanctuary for demonstrators, who have taunted police for months from the
university radio station they control.

"The university is our symbol of autonomy, of freedom," demonstrator
Carlos Manuel said as he paused in the shade after fleeing a tear-gas
cloud. "It's the heart of our people."

No one is sure what sparked the outbreak of fighting, which ended two days
of relative calm and unnerved locals who otherwise would have been focused
on Day of the Dead ceremonies. By late afternoon, as many as 10 people,
including a Mexican news photographer and one federal police officer, had
been injured.

Protesters are demanding the ouster of Ulises Ruiz, the governor of the
state of Oaxaca, who became a pariah to many here five months ago when he
used force to break up an annual teachers strike. The teachers, some of
whom have returned to work in outlying schools, have ceded center stage in
the demonstrations to an umbrella activist group, the Popular Assembly of
the People of Oaxaca, or APPO. The group advocates for the rights of
indigenous people and is demanding economic and cultural changes that its
leaders say are aimed at improving the lives of the poor.

APPO members and sympathizers used guerrilla tactics Thursday to overcome
an overwhelming disadvantage in firepower against police, who were backed
by heavy armored vehicles and water cannons. Men in bandannas sneaked up
behind advancing police officers, distracting them by pounding rocks
against metal telephone poles and leaving them open to a barrage of rocks
lofted from rooftops with slingshots.

Demonstrators set up crude first-aid operations several hundred feet
behind the most intense fighting. Mar Santiago, a street vendor with a
soothing voice, poured Coca-Cola onto the face of a man with teary,
bloodshot eyes. The soda has become the preferred treatment for tear-gas
exposure among journalists and protesters, who stuff it into backpacks
before each confrontation.

"This will make it better," Santiago said.

All around Santiago, men were dropping to their knees, frantically rubbing
their faces. Others shot videos or digital photographs, adding to a
massive storehouse of images collected by protesters who seem to carry as
many cameras into the fray as rocks. And still others crouched over
battery-operated radios to get instructions broadcast over the campus
radio station.

Inside the university, protest leader Rene' Martinez screamed into a
cellphone over the shouts of fellow demonstrators. "This is the most
important spot in the city," said Martinez, who paused for a telephone
interview while rerouting a team of demonstrators. "We will never give it
up."

****

November 3, 2006
Protesters in Mexico Push Riot Police Back
By REUTERS

OAXACA, Mexico, Nov. 2 (Reuters) . Thousands of protesters hurling Molotov
cocktails forced riot police officers with tear gas and water cannons to
retreat on Thursday, as clashes intensified here in this popular tourist
city.

At least eight people were injured in the violence, including a newspaper
photographer who was hit by fireworks launched from the grounds of Oaxaca
State.s university, a center of the protests. More than a dozen people
have died in the conflict.

The federal police, who took over downtown Oaxaca last weekend, were
pushed back by hundreds of protesters guarding the entrance to the
university.

The riot police had the upper hand at first, when reinforcements arrived
in armored trucks and helicopters, spraying water cannons and firing tear
gas canisters.

But as they pushed through barricades of burned vehicles, the activists,
who have blockaded the city for five months and demand that Gov. Ulises
Ruiz step down, threw gasoline bombs at them. Local residents joined the
demonstrators.

As the police backed away, the streets filled with thousands of people
chanting, .Ulises has fallen..

*****

Electronic Blockade of Mexican Goverment that was started by "Reclaim The Commons" on Sun, October 29, 2006 continues on the Electronic Disturbance Theater site - due to backend problems at mountainreble.net.

But, as of today we have put a mirror of the orginal e-action.

http://sdhacklab.org/oaxacavive/

Electronic Blockade of Mexican Embassy and Consulate Websites In
response to a call to action to remember Brad and all the companer@s killed in the popular struggle to oust the bloody tyrant Ulises Ruiz, show solidarity with the teachers and protesters of Oaxaca, and attempt to interrupt the invasion of Oaxaca that Fox is beginning, join this electronic blockade of thewebsites for
all of the Mexican embassies and consulates in the United States and Canada.

SO PLEASE JOIN US IN PROTEST AGAINST THE MEXICAN GOVERMENT FOR THE
ATTACKS ON THE TEACHERS OF OAXACA

http://sdhacklab.org/oaxacavive/

<>
Bloqueo Electrónico a los sitios web de embajadas y consulados
mexicanos.

http://sdhacklab.org/oaxacavive/

En respuesta al llamado de acción para recordar a Brad y a todas las compañeras y compañeros asesinados en el alzamiento popular para destituir al sangriento tirano Ulises Ruiz, para manifestar solidaridad con los maestros y manifestantes de Oaxaca, y para detener la invasión a Oaxaca que el presidente mexicano Vicente Fox ha ordenado, únete a este bloqueo electrónico de sitios de embajadas y consulados Mexicanos en EEUU y Canadá.

Por favor, espera 40 segundos para que VR Sit-In empiece su recarga.

Una vez que ha EMPEZADO, puedes abrir otra ventana del navegador y hacer cualquier otra cosa y DEJAR LA VENTANA DEL VR SIT-IN MINIMIZADA.

Clickea el boton "Cambiar" para cambiar la VELOCIDAD DE LA CONEXIÓN.

Gracias a borderlands Hacklab y a Electronic Disturbance Theater por escribir el código para la desobediencia civil electrónica en
javascript y hacer esta acción electrónica posible.