Oaxaca

Leftist protesters trying to force out the Oaxaca state governor set fire to another building Sunday after a night of burning vehicles and government offices in running street battles with police that injured at least 43 people. The violence broke out late Saturday after masked youths broke away from a protest march by about 4,000 people and began attacking police and buildings in this picturesque state capital.

Four masked youths tossed gasoline bombs at a McDonald's restaurant in the conflict-torn city of Oaxaca, damaging windows, seats and a play area, police said. Security personnel at the shopping center extinguished the blaze, police said. The restaurant was closed during the predawn attack.

Federal police surrounded a university packed with leftist protesters here Thursday, clearing barricades and firing tear gas as the activists showered them with gasoline bombs. At least 20 protesters, 10 officers and three news photographers were injured. About 200 police officers in body armor and carrying riot shields advanced to the gates of Benito Juarez Autonomous University and fought the protesters for more than six hours before retreating.

Federal police reopened this city's central square Tuesday after painting over the anti-government graffiti that had covered nearly every building in the colonial plaza during a five-month occupation by leftists and striking teachers. Small skirmishes continued to flare in other parts of the state capital between federal police and protesters seeking the ouster of Gov. Ulises Ruiz.

The state capital remained divided Monday, as thousands marched in defiance and others praised government forces that dislodged a protest encampment from the city center this weekend. The recovery of the plaza by federal police late Sunday marked a symbolic end to the five-month occupation by striking teachers and leftist supporters who are demanding that the state governor resign. But it remains unclear when the tourist capital will return to normal.

Thousands of federal riot police using tear gas and water cannons battled demonstrators in this once-picturesque state capital Sunday, prompting striking teachers and leftist groups to abandon the central square they had held for five months. After hours of smoky clashes in the streets, the end of a political crisis that had left at least nine dead and tested President Vicente Fox came quietly.

Federal riot police and soldiers toting shields and automatic weapons massed around this beleaguered colonial city Saturday in a bid to end a five-month standoff between striking teachers and supporters of state Gov. Ulises Ruiz, amid escalating violence that included the Friday shooting deaths of a U.S. journalist and two Mexican men.

A New York-based photographer was fatally shot Friday while trying to conduct interviews during a shootout between leftist protesters and a group of assailants in Oaxaca city, where a five-month teachers strike has triggered at least eight killings.

Striking teachers in Oaxaca have agreed to return to classes as early as next week in what federal officials hope is a first step in restoring order to the state's historic capital after five months of civil unrest. But a key protest leader said Friday that demonstrators would maintain street blockades, daring authorities to intervene.

Leftist activists blockaded government offices across the southern state of Oaxaca to pressure federal senators to remove the state's governor. A Senate committee was meeting in Mexico City to discuss whether to send a bill to remove Gov. Ulises Ruiz on the grounds that he had lost control of his state. Activists from the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca, a mix of trade unionists and leftists, accuse Ruiz of rigging the 2004 election to win office.