Attacks continue in Oaxaca: Radio Universidad may be next

The 4:45 transmission said that Ministerial Police have a warrant to enter the campus and search the station backed up by the PFP. The signal was then blocked yet again by la canción that has been overriding the AM broadcast for more than three weeks. The song is audible in the webcast as well, in addition to the sound of low-flying helicopters.

The barricade at Cinco Señores is now being reinforced and broadcasters are uncertain of what will happen next. Earlier in the week, a PFP spokesperson declared that the very same police force was out of control, but they seem to be cooperating nonetheless.

The station has continued to broadcast from the campus of the UABJO despite the occupation of Oaxaca City by federal police, and students and APPO adherents won a significant street battle shortly after the arrival of the troops in order to maintain both the campus and the signal.

They are calling for water, vinegar, gasoline, glass bottles, fireworks, and cola (to counter the effects of tear gas) in order to defend 'the voice of truth.' The webstream and the AM broadcast are both unstable due to interference.

They are also advising (all) women to avoid the city center and the PFP lines because of escalating male violence against women. See earlier post http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/11/20/18331444.php with information about a sexual assault perpetrated by the PFP last week (2.7 MB MP3 file called 'gender war').

Since Saturday night's street battle, the PFP has occupied Santo Domingo, the plaza APPO occupied after they were forcibly removed from the central Zócalo. Today tanks and police lines had replaced the tents set up by Campesino groups, Human Rights organizations, and TV monitors showing (and selling) video footage of the PFP occupation, the battle to defend the radio, the initial June 14 eviction/massacre...

(x)Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz (URO) has asked for huge increases in the budget for 2007, including huge expenditures explicitly for guns and tanks in order to reestablish his power in the state he can barely set foot in for the protests that explode whenever his helicopters fly him in. The PFP have begun, for the first time, to patrol the city. Houses have been searched and the numbers of arrested and disappeared is growing as more and more people tell what they saw Saturday night. State police have recently been visible (in uniform) for the first time in months.

Please continue to monitor the situation in Oaxaca.