Government, APPO now battling for public opinion

OAXACA - Standing on an old van surrounded by thousands of protesters in front of the Santo Domingo Cathedral, Florentino López from the provisional leadership of the Oaxaca People's Popular Assembly (APPO) proclaimed a kind of victory.

After 48 hours of police intervention, and only four blocks from the Zócalo and its ranks of federal officers, López shouted, "The people still have control of our city."

The open battle for Oaxaca has begun. And while the streets of this colonial city are now battlefields, the combat does not take place behind the makeshift barricades, the skeletons of burned city buses, or the firm lines of riot police blocking access to the Zócalo.

The combat has moved, more than ever, to the slippery ground of public opinion.

Though a few families stood in half-open doorways to applaud the arrival of federal police, and a pro-government pirate radio station called for the PFP to stay "as long as it takes to get rid of the APPO," thousands have taken to the streets to build barricades and march through the city, continuing to push for Gov. Ulises Ruiz's ouster while avoiding violent clashes with police.

After a tense night of helicopter flyovers and empty streets, the day began here with the first visions of the Zócalo under federal police control: sleeping police rolled up in protest banners, raided newsstands, and piles of human waste lining the surrounding streets.

RUMORS

Rumors circulated in the morning that police would head to the university radio station, which continued to broadcast Radio APPO, the main organizing tool for the protesters.

"Compañeros, we are in red alert, facing an imminent attack by the Federal Preventive Police against the Radio Universidad building," the announcer said over the airwaves.

Masked students reinforced their barricades with bottle rockets and Molotov cocktails, but the police did not arrive.

At noon marches left from three different points in the city to converge just two blocks from the Zócalo. On Bustamante street the crowd of marchers burst into shouts and chants when they received word that the Congress had passed a resolution calling for Ruiz to "reconsider leaving office."

The march surged forward with many bouncing up and down, shouting: "You can see it, you can feel it, in Oaxaca there is no defeat."

The marchers gathered in front of Santo Domingo Cathedral where they called for people to continue non-violent resistance to the police presence in Oaxaca, including setting up a new protest encampment in front of the cathedral.

The federal police appeared confused by the protesters' simultaneous avoidance of confrontations and refusal to disperse, staying locked in the Zócalo, surrounded by larger numbers of protesters who mostly stayed several blocks away. There were no reports of police movements in the city or attempts to intercept marches or lift barricades.

As the day before, some young protesters were seen wheeling Molotov cocktails about in shopping carts, and a few attempted to throw their low-powered, homemade explosives at the police, but they were stopped by other, mostly middle-aged protesters calling for restraint and non-violence.

Several miles outside of town, at the governor's office, Public Relations Director Carmina Fuentes said that the governor was back in town, at work, though she declined to say where.

"We have not stopped working for one single day," she said, "and we will keep on working, regardless of what happens."

In Oaxaca City, the marchers filled the streets of the historic center around Santo Domingo, holding a gathering at the crest of the hill and beginning to set up their new protest camp.

"These are the people of the city," said one protester, who declined to give his name, as he walked toward Santo Domingo in one of the marches that met on Alcalá Avenue. "This isn't just the APPO anymore, these are the people."