DATE=11/5/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=MEXICO DEMO (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-255877
BYLINE=GREG FLAKUS
DATELINE=MEXICO CITY
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: After a tense standoff that lasted more than
two and half hours, police and striking students in
Mexico City avoided a violent clash on Friday through
a negotiated compromise. As VOA's Greg Flakus reports
from Mexico City, the incident comes at a time of
increasing frustration over the 201-day strike.
TEXT: The confrontation developed on the main highway
that runs through Mexico City, close to the
headquarters of one of the nation's two television
networks. On one side, there were several hundred
demonstrators supporting the strike at the National
Autonomous University of Mexico, known as UNAM. On
the other side, about 100 meters away, stood close to
a thousand riot police, including about 40 men mounted
on horses.
As the tense negotiating process went forward, one
unidenfified demonstrator spoke through a loudspeaker.
/// Demo leader (Spanish) ///
He asked the police and representatives of Mexico
City's government to allow the demonstration to
continue. He said that this was a peaceful march and
that the striking students had a right to demonstrate
in public. City officials had been pleading all week
with strike leaders to avoid blocking traffic. They
suggested several alternative routes for the march
from the university campus in the south of the city to
Mexico's presidential palace, near the center. The
strikers, however, ignored city officials and marched
up the Periferico, a key highway that circles the
city.
The potentially violent confrontation ended after the
demonstrators agreed to leave the Periferico and march
through city streets. Riot police lined their route
for the first few hundred meters and kept watch as the
marchers continued through nearby streets.
The strike at UNAM began in April over a proposed
tuition hike but it has continued for months after
that proposal was dropped. University officials and
representatives of the more than two hundred thousand
students who are not involved in the strike say the
strikers are led by a group of hardcore Marxist
radicals who seek confrontation. Strike leaders have
rejected several attempts to end the conflict through
negotiations. (signed)
NEB/PT
05-Nov-1999 18:52 PM EDT (05-Nov-1999 2352 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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