Posted on 05/04/2006 6:02:35 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
SAN SALVADOR ATENCO, Mexico (Reuters) - A protest by flower vendors erupted into a clash between machete-wielding peasants and riot police on Wednesday, leaving one person dead and several held hostage.
Fifty police officers were injured, 11 seriously, state Gov. Enrique Pena Nieto said, and about 100 people were arrested.
Angry demonstrators from the town of San Salvador Atenco, 15 miles north of Mexico City, cornered 11 policemen and were holding them hostage at nightfall, officials said. The demonstrators refused to release the policemen unless protesters who were arrested earlier in the riot were freed.
Mobs of protesters burned tires on a main road and lobbed stones and gasoline bombs at some 400 policemen. Television pictures showed rioters kicking and stamping on two apparently unconscious policemen.
Trouble broke out in the notoriously fractious farming town when police arrested roadside flower traders suspected of illegally selling flowers. Dozens more were arrested later in the day.
As night fell on San Salvador Atenco, protesters armed with gasoline bombs manned roadblocks and said they would not negotiate or release the police hostages until three flower sellers arrested earlier in the day were set free.
"We will keep mobilizing," said protest leader America del Valle. "In order for there to be the right conditions for dialogue they have to release the prisoners first and withdraw the police."
The mob dragged at least one policeman off, seemingly to take him hostage, and local media reported that a number of wounded policemen were hospitalized, some of them with head wounds from having been beaten with sticks.
A 14-year-old boy was killed in the rioting, witnesses said.
Media reports said the protesters took guns from captured policemen and locked the men in a patrol car, as roadblocks caused chaos with local traffic.
It was the latest outbreak of violence to hit Mexico as the country approaches a July 2 presidential election. A surge in drug cartel bloodshed has spread to coastal resorts like Acapulco and two people were killed in April when armed police tried to break up a steelworkers strike.
San Salvador Atenco is known for its machete-armed peasants, who five years ago blocked President Vicente Fox's plan to build a new airport there with a standoff that lasted several days.
Zapatista rebel leader Subcomandante Marcos, who headed a brief but bloody uprising in the Indian dominated southern state of Chiapas in 1994, said his guerrilla army was on red-alert following the clashes.
Leftist Marcos, who is on a tour of Mexico City, has hardened his political stance in recent days, calling for the overthrow of government and vowing to expel foreign capital from the country.
Television images on Wednesday showed some protesters shouting pro-Zapatista slogans.
Give me flowers or give me death!(and then flowers). Well at least they are standing up for something.
LOL! Skinheads galore!
This has the potential to be more interesting.
Cops and flower vendors wrestling on a bed of flower petals. What can we do to get this story pushed forward here and in Mexico? We need FOX and CNN to cover this match. With satellite trucks:):)
>>>Mexican florists riot, one dead, police held.<<<
One of the best headlines ever!
I'll give up my flowers when they pry them from my cold dead fingers.
Is it just me or does any one else feel like we're dealing with a retarded brother here? We're supposed to look after him, make sure he doesn't get into trouble, blow all his money, and if we can find something useful for him to do all the better?
No. This is mob rule. You join one side or the other. A smart man quietly and daintily steps aside and observes the proceedings from a distance to learn more. Whatever country you happen to be sharing the space with.
Mobs make noise. Executives make decisions. I will hapilly step aside. I don't want to make big decisions. If I had wanted such responsability I would have been a politition.
You must make executive decisions about personal safety also, do you agree? Let's see here. The inebriated mobs in Barcelona for the Pink Floyd concert that wrecked parts of history. Pamplona- large groups of people decided to jump up and down on the little cars that happened to park near the corrals that the bulls were running through.
Torremolinos- a bunch of guys from various countries decided to scare the women up so they could pinch asses. Port Noir- throwing bottles at trains going in the opposite direction. Paris- check what is going on in the little park along Raspail Street.
Bath - people jumping into the Roman baths. Salisbury- Stonehenge had to be fenced in. Inverness train stop was fine. Loch Ness is a fine glacial lake. Nice people there. Edinborough Castle had the Games and was also a fine historic place to visit. A nice hotel there has 15' high ceilings and all the bathing you need and all the food you can devour under big trees. Dunvegan, Isle of Skye is just like Kansas.
There are good places to be, and shitty places not to be, and bad situations not to get involved in. That's the point- find the nice places to be and enjoy your presence there. It is very fleeting.
Oh yes. That's why my cadre is stocked with the things they will need in case the food stops coming in, the nukes fly, or a pandemic hits. I wish I could get out of the city and inhabit a safer place, but in reality my people here will probably need me. At the same time I have people that might need me less in the country. At any rate I am not really concerned with day to day personal safety aside from being aware of my surroundings. My neighbors know that in the event of a disaster I am the person to ask about what they need to do to survive.
I am also blessed with nice neighbors. One was also active duty. We are the ones who will think fast and decide things. There is a road that can get us out of NW L.A. county and to Antelope Valley that most people don't know about. It avoids the 118, 405 and 5 freeways. It connects with the 14 North within Santa Clarita. Go north until you get to Mojave. Make a right turn on the 58E. One thousand yards from there is a diner on the left. Pop in. The best steak and eggs breakfast is there. With Spanish hash browns and toasted rolls with butter and honey and gravy.
Truckers try to keep this place a secret by parking out of sight:) That's my evacuation route from L.A. It is up to others to come along with me. The gate to Edwards AFB is near if we really are in need of help then. Or we just go to Barstow and Vegas!:):)
I'm missing my daily dose of the SciFi channel. What do you think of this idea in a movie script??
Sounds good.
I am also blessed with nice neighbors.
I never really understood the concept of not knowing your neighbors. Unless you are miles away you might need them someday. I am only one of four white people in an area of half a thousand black people in a couple of blocks. I can walk down the street and tell you what most of them are doing...Working, welfare mom's, disability, selling, holding, prostitution house, party house, vacant since...I don't use any of their illicit services but just talking to them like people and treating them with respect gets you credability.
I don't think most people are aware of the garbage that goes on down there. If it weren't for FR, I wouldn't.
I went there once and saw enough. It was dirty, you can't drink anything but bottled liquids, you have to watch what you eat, and frankly, I wasn't at all impressed with the beaches.
I went to Mazatlan, so in all fairness I'm sure there may be much nicer vacation spots in Mexico. But one thing I've heard most people say and what I experienced, is that only blocks from the resorts is poverty that makes "poverty" in this country look like the upper middle class. I'm talkin' like dozen people living in a two-room shack with dirt floors that's maybe 500 sq. ft.
When I vacation, I like to travel around the country. You just can't do that in Mexico without seriously risking your life and health. And it'd be a cold day before I'd ever want my wife out in that.
People pay for that. I just don't get it. You'd have to pay me to go there and even then, if it weren't enough, I'd say no.
Roadside flower traders illegally selling flowers?! What would Eliza Doolittle think!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.