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OAXACA, Mexico - The governor of Mexico's troubled Oaxaca state claimed victory in a six-month conflict today, after riot police fired tear gas and arrested scores of protesters trying to force him from office the day before.
Oaxaca Governor Ulises Ruiz, protected by dozens of police, strolled quiet downtown streets where hundreds of activists threw petrol bombs and rocks at phalanxes of cops in body armour yesterday.
The city, normally popular with European backpackers, has been in chaos for the last six months because of protests by striking teachers, Indian groups and leftists against the governor, who they say is corrupt and authoritarian.
"We have recovered the heart of Oaxaca for Oaxacans," Ruiz told reporters. "We are overcoming the conflict here and we don't want more delinquents to come."
Federal officials said they had arrested more than 150 people yesterday, when hundreds of activists, some armed with homemade wooden shields and fireworks, tried to surround federal police occupying the city's central square.
First aid workers treated dozens of people, many of whom had inhaled teargas, although fewer than 10 were hospitalised, local media said. Today, shop owners repaired broken windows while government workers cleared away burnt out cars.
The situation in Oaxaca, one of Mexico's poorest states, will be just one of conservative President-elect Felipe Calderon's most pressing problems when he takes power on December 1.
In October, federal authorities forced their way into the city to try to end the conflict that has killed more than a dozen people. Activists had chased cops from city streets, set up hundreds of barricades and taken over government offices.
Ruiz has ignored calls from congress and politicians in his own party for him to quit to put and end to the conflict.
A month ago, angry protesters drove hundreds of riot police backed by water cannon trucks out of a university neighbourhood and activists today said they remained determined.
"Our struggle will continue. We're reorganizing in communities all over the state," Florentine Lopez, spokesman for the Popular Assembly for the People of Oaxaca, told a radio station.
Protesters yesterday also started blazes in four government buildings, including a court, a museum and the tourism ministry.
- REUTERS
