Posted by rdom on January 06, 1998 at 09:40:50:
In Reply to: Commandate Ramona and Sub-Commandate Marcos escaped posted by rdom on January 05, 1998 at 09:26:13:
Zapatista protesters block Mexico stock
market
12:37 p.m. Jan 05, 1998 Eastern
- Protesters supporting Zapatista rebels in southern Chiapas state blocked access to the
Mexican stock market on Monday and occupied two radio stations in the
Mexican capital, witnesses said.
The demonstrators threw red paint at the
outside walls of the modern, domed stock market building on Mexico City's
central Reforma avenue and placed coffins in the street to symbolize the
deaths
of 45 Indians massacred by paramilitaries last month in Chiapas.
Radio reports said the protesters, mostly
students, were members or supporters of the Zapatista National Liberation
Front (FZLN), the political wing of the Zapatista National Liberation Army
(EZLN) whose guerrillas rose up against the government in Chiapas in
January 1994.
At the same time as the stock market
demonstration, dozens of other protesters wearing black ski masks and
bandannas occupied two Mexico City radio stations, Radioactivo and Pulsar,
and demanded that they broadcast a taped message from the Zapatistas. The
stations share the same building.
``Unarmed members of the (Zapatista)
Front took over the station peacefully this morning and started to transmit
things about the problems in Chiapas, but the Interior Ministry cut the
broadcast,'' an employee at the Radioactivo station told Reuters.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the
employee said the atmosphere inside the station was ``absolutely calm'' and
that workers hoped the station would restart broadcasts soon.
The demonstrators draped a huge FZLN banner
over the outside of the radio stations.
Two truckloads of riot police and armed
detectives took up positions outside the radio stations but appeared to be
waiting and not taking any action.
At the stock exchange, trading on the
floor was delayed 45 minutes by the Zapatista protest, though dealing did
begin slightly earlier electronically.
``Because of the Zapatistas' protest very
few
traders could enter,'' a stock market trader said.
No violence was reported and the
demonstrators, numbering roughly 30, let traders in once they realized that
dealing had already begun electronically, dealers said.
They then continued their protest
outside, snarling traffic along the Reforma avenue.