Flower power

San Salvador Atenco, Mexico

After a day of clashes with rioters armed with machetes, Mexican police last week retook control of the town of San Salvador Atenco, just outside Mexico City. Townspeople protesting a crackdown on unlicensed flower sellers had rioted and taken 11 police officers hostage. As many as 4,000 state police converged on the town and used tear gas and clubs to subdue protestors and free the hostages. The uprising is seen as a test of President Vicente Fox’s ability to face down the country’s growing peasant movement. “I can categorically assure you,” a government spokesman said, “there is no lack of governability here.”