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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | November 2006 
Mexico City Officials Blasted On Protest
 Mark Stevenson - Associated Press
| | A girl carries a sign 'Long Live the Popular Assembly of Oaxaca, APPO' during a protest in Oaxaca City Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2006 in Mexico. The picturesque tourist destination is wracked by five months of protests and violence that began with a teachers protest demanding salary increases and later asking for the governor's resignation. (AP/Eduardo Verdugo) |
A city human rights commission accused officials on Sunday of violating residents' rights by allowing protesters to block a main boulevard for more than a month this summer in support of the leftist presidential candidate.
The commission's federal counterpart blasted officials for failing to respond to police brutality allegations in a separate protest north of the city.
Mexico City's commission — which like the federal body is government-funded but autonomous — said it received an "unprecedented volume" of nearly 2,500 complaints about the summer's street blockade carried out by supporters of defeated presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Supporters of his party, which also governs Mexico City, claimed Lopez Obrador was robbed of victory in the July 2 election and camped out on Reforma boulevard from July 31 to Sept. 15. City authorities provided them with water and sanitation services and allowed them to block traffic for weeks.
The city commission said citizens' rights were violated by the failure of officials to enforce the law because the barricades prevented residents from getting to their jobs and homes. It recommended that Mexico City develop rules governing demonstrations to avoid similar troubles in the future.
In the other case, the federal human rights commission said police failed to comply with its recommendation to investigate officers who allegedly beat protesters and sexually abused women in May in the town of San Salvador Atenco, 15 miles northeast of Mexico City.
Police intervened in the town to end violent protests in which demonstrators kidnapped and beat six policemen after authorities tried to prevent street vendors from setting up stands in a nearby city. When police retook the town, 23 female detainees claimed they were sexually abused by officers and others said they had been clubbed.
While the worst abuses were allegedly committed by local police in the state of Mexico, where Atenco is located, the commission said a thorough investigation should have been conducted into federal officers who played a supporting role in the raid.
The commission said federal police also failed to cooperate with its requests for information on the raid, arguing it was classified. |
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