Oaxaca, Mexico – Thousands of anti-government demonstrators marched through the tense colonial city of Oaxaca on Sunday, demanding that security forces abandon camps they set up last week to end a five-month protest.
Masked police officers clutching automatic weapons watched the protesters from rooftops as they marched to a plaza about a block away from the encampments, yelling, “Get out, federal police!”
The leaders then formed a human chain to keep the crowd of 20,000 from confronting police, but about 400 people broke through and attacked the officers with stones and bottles. The forces raised their shields to protect themselves but did not use tear gas or fire their weapons.
A radio station at Oaxaca’s university, where the leftists had set up their base last week, reported that gunmen had fired at some protesters near the university earlier Sunday, injuring a 21-year old student, who was taken to a hospital.
The hospital confirmed a student had been brought in with a bullet wound. There was no immediate government reaction to the report.
About 4,000 federal police swooped into the city Oct. 29 to restore order following a five- month protest that had rattled President Vicente Fox’s administration, scared tourists out of Oaxaca and left at least nine people dead, mostly protesters shot by armed gangs.
After being chased out of the city center, the demonstrators moved to the university. Police surrounded the campus last week and battled hundreds of protesters armed with gasoline bombs, stones and fireworks stuffed with glass and nails, leaving more than 30 people injured.
On Saturday, masked protesters detained and blindfolded two men near the university, accusing them of being spies for the federal police.
