All full size versions of the above photographs have apparently been removed from the internet.
From the WaPo:
Policeman Manuel Dominguez is tied to a lightpost after residents of a neighborhood accused him of trying to burgle a house in the city of Oaxaca, Mexico on, Tuesday Oct. 24, 2006. "We haven't had time to check what happened to him," local police director Aristeo Lopez said Wednesday. Authorities have been kicked out of the center of the town once popular with tourists, located 350 kilometers (220 miles) southeast of Mexico City. Police occupy only a few neighborhoods, and have lost control of the city as a whole. Protesters are demanding the resignation of Gov. Ulises Ruiz, whom they accuse of rigging the 2004 election to win office and of repressing dissent with violence. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) (Eduardo Verdugo - AP)
From The Miami Herald International Edition:
With virtually no police in the streets, residents of this colonial town are stepping in to fill the void - often with brutal consequences
People accused of being thieves are tied to light posts and beaten, one home was torched and a man was stabbed to death with an ice pick as five months of protests erode the rule of law in what was once a major tourist destination.
The beating of Manuel Domín- guez was the latest example of how far Oaxaca has spun out of control as mobs of striking teachers, farmers and other protesters demand that Gov. Ulises Ruiz step down.
Late Tuesday, about 50 people stripped off Domínguez´s T-shirt, lashed him to a pole and beat him nearly unconscious. They accused Domínguez, who works as a security guard at a local jail, of trying to rob a house. The crowd left him tied up overnight, finally turning him over to the few police left in town early Wednesday.
For police commander Aristeo López, it was just another public beating. López acknowledged he still didn´t know how the guard was doing nearly 24 hours after the attack.
"We haven´t had time to check what happened to him," he said.
Because there are no police patrols, masked and armed pro- testers roam the streets, detaining anyone they suspect of criminal activity. Often, they grab young men accused of trying to commit various crimes, tie them up for hours and beat them.
The conflict comes at the end of President Fox´s six-year term, which has been marked by protests that spun out of control while the president has watched, reluctant to crack down for fear of provoking more violence.
Some teachers have defied the union and opened schools, but masked protesters often block children and their parents from returning to classes.
At the Francisco Zarco school, some parents armed with sticks and heavy metal pipes kept guard outside to keep protesters away.
Early this week at the same school, as a machete-wielding masked man kept children from entering, 8-year-old Luis Carlos Matus asked his mother: "Mama, don´t the protesters like children?"
Many worry they could become a victim. "We are afraid the protesters will get confused and kill us," said Ana María Cruz, interviewed outside the school.
On Oct. 5, a teacher opposed to the strike, Jaime René Calvo , was killed by two assailants who stabbed him with an ice pick. His attackers are still at large. Four others have been killed by police or armed groups.
In August, protesters set fire to a house after the owners began arguing with a demonstrator who was urinating outside the home. The demonstrator rallied a mob by accusing the occupants of the home of trying to attack him, and the crowd responded by torching the house. The occupants escaped unharmed, but the house was destroyed.
Protesters have "detained" about 20 policemen, beating them and accusing them of crimes before handing them over to authorities. Lino Celaya, state security secretary, said none of them was found to have broken the law.
The conflict seems to be far from over.
Protesters have pledged to block highways, beef up blockades and boycott commercial centers this Friday.
If Ruiz doesn´t step down, they say they will try to keep President-elect Felipe Calderón from taking office on Dec. 1.
Ruiz has refused to leave office.
Wire services
El Universal
Jueves 26 de octubre de 2006
Miami Herald, página 1
From the BBC, In Pictures Oaxaca Clashes
Comments