The Federal Preventive Police (PFP) are advancing in Oaxaca City with water cannons and bulldozer equipped tanks. They have now entered the zocalo (the city center) which has been held by the people for the past five months. Fires have been lit to impede the their advance, while the PFP is using teargas, beatings and intimidation (in the form of helicopters with snipers in them circling above). People are being urged to remain calm to avoid bloodshed yet defend their positions. Elsewhere, the PFP is attempting to dismantle the hundreds of barricades. In at least one instance, 300 police were forced to back down from their advance on a barricade by around 1,000 protesters.
In the city, people are marching with plans to end at Radio Universidad in order to protect it from police seizure. Others are trying to enter the zocalo.
There is an electronic blockade now going on against the Mexican consulates in the US. Join it!
The last minutes of Brad Will's life were caught on his video camera and can be seen at Salon Chingon. Please note it is very disturbing. Yesterday, two people were arrested for his murder.
In San Francisco, there will be an emergency demonstration at the Mexican consulate on Tuesday, at 5pm. 532 Folsom St.
UPDATE 5:27: Listen to Radio APPO online. The power has been cut, the radio is not transmitting. Minute to minute updates are being provided by Centro de Medio Libres.
UPDATE 5:56: Radio Bemba is broadcasting online and reporting one person has been killed today, shot in the chest by government forces.
UPDATE 6:26: There are reports of a 14-year-old and his father being killed by the PFP. In the San Francisco Bay Area, join us tomorrow at 7am at the Mexican Consulate (532 Folsom) for a demonstration. (The demo on Tues. is still on as well.)
UPDATE 6:30: CML reports four deaths today. I received an email that said the Mexican Consulate in Milan was stormed by protesters. There is a roving demonstration in Mexico City. Radio APPO is supposedly back up, but I can't get it.
UPDATE 7:26: Lots of photos from the police onslaught in Oaxaca at Infoshop. Solidarity in San Cristobal, Chiapas. As the caption says, "parece que Oaxaca no esta sola..."
UPDATE 9:48: At the Narcosphere, Dan writes that APPO has confirmed two civilians were killed today by the PFP - "Social Security Institute worker Roberto López Hernández and nurse and APPO safety commission member Jorge Alberto Beltrán." The PFP are now raiding the homes of APPO leaders.
UPDATE 9:58: Radio APPO is back online! Listen here.
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