Mexico APPO protest deterioates into violence

The Universal Newspaper ^ | Nov 26, 2006 | rovenstinez

[rovenstinez]

The Oaxaca People´s Assembly´s planned 48-hour siege of federal police forces stationed in the main plaza of this state capital turned ugly Saturday afternoon and clashes continued into the night.

APPO protesters fired bottle rockets through plastic tubes and lobbed countless rocks at the police lines closing off the Zócalo. The police responded by firing heavy amounts of tear gas.

Several buildings were set ablaze, including the historic Camino Real hotel, although details about damage were sketchy.

A massive APPO demonstration converged on the Zócalo in mid-afternoon and began dispersing at key intersections to encircle the Federal Preventative Police (PFP) troops as part of their symbolic two-day blockade. An estimated 10,000 people were taking part.

But around 4:30 p.m., several PFP officers were seen stealing a cooler of soda from a protester, leading to a volley of rocks being thrown at the police.

[rovenstinez]

THIS just in, with President Elect Calderon being challenged to be sworn in on Friday, Vicente Fox has sure left a lot of stuff to clean up for the new kid on the block. Sixteen cars were torched and burned last night, and taxi drivers, all think that the guerilla movements are going to give Mexican authorities some real challenges to bring back law and order. Stand by.

[RoadTest]

"PPO protesters fired bottle rockets through plastic tubes and lobbed countless rocks at the police lines"

Just wait until the Russians or Chinese arm them with more sophisticated weapons.

[norton]

Protesters "symbolically" surround and close in on the police while shooting home made rockets at them.
Same police "steal" cokes from the protesters....

That's some real fair and balanced reporting.

[DaoPian]

Gibler is a known leftist and shouldn't be considered an objective source. The soda theft anecdote is simply lame, more likely they were confiscating Molotov cocktails. That said, even he must report some of the facts which plainly reveal the chaos and disorder which this movement has become.

All reports I've read and heard have noted that the damage from yesterday and last night is the worst since the protest started. There is already a cacophony of wailing and crying from the lefty media which will likely hit a peak later this week as the drones start republishing.

Mark has a good summary here:
APPO retreats to Juarez University -- Governor to be gagged