Battle for the city

last updated 8 January 2015

Oaxaca, Mexico

Tensions remained high in the southern Mexican city of Oaxaca this week, following clashes between federal police and demonstrators who had all but taken over the city. Police last week drove into Oaxaca’s main square, or zócalo, rousting demonstrators who fought back by throwing Molotov cocktails and burning municipal buses. The demonstrators have vowed to retake the city and oust the regional governor, Ulises Ruiz, whom they call a despot. The confrontation began last June when striking schoolteachers and their supporters occupied the zócalo following a violent standoff with police. Last week, after the teachers settled their strike, 4,000 police surrounded the square and moved in. The ensuing melee left at least three dead, including 36-year-old Bradley Roland Will, an activist documentary maker from New York City who was filming the confrontation. The Mexican legislature passed a nonbinding resolution asking Ruiz to resign for the sake of public order.