Protesters Clash With Mexican Police

By IOAN GRILLO
Associated Press Writer

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Protesters scuffled with riot police outside Congress on Monday after supporters of leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador tried to set up a protest camp to demand a full recount in last month's election.

AP Photo/DARIO LOPEZ-MILLS

Lopez Obrador's backers also picketed the Federal Electoral Tribunal as it met to resolve election disputes, and they maintained around-the-clock tent camps across large swaths of central Mexico City.

Lawmakers from Lopez Obrador's Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, later filed a complaint against police and said Sen. Elias Moreno Brizuela had suffered a rib injury, Congressman Juan Jose Garcia suffered minor head wounds, and three other legislators apparently were bruised or shaken.

"Not even in the worst era of the PRI did they do this," Moreno Brizuela said, referring to the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which ruled Mexico with a heavy hand from 1929 to 2000. "They attacked us ... and beat us." Television footage also showed protesters attacking police.

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Protesters clash briefly with Mexican police over disputed election

By Ioan Grillo

ASSOCIATED PRESS

MEXICO CITY – Dozens of protesters demanding a full recount of last month's tight presidential vote clashed with police outside Mexico's Congress on Monday, as the nation's top electoral court met to resolve election disputes.

Supporters of leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador also picketed the Federal Electoral Tribunal, blocked the entrances to branches of a U.S.-owned bank for several hours and maintained round-the-clock tent camps that occupy large swaths of central Mexico City.

Their actions came a day after Lopez Obrador told them to prepare for months or even years of demonstrations, amid signs that a partial recount of the presidential race was not going to reverse the slim lead of his conservative rival, Felipe Calderon.