Agents of the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (SSyPC), evicted last night students from the Mactumatzá Rural Normal School and people from the municipality of Chenalhó using pepper spray. The protestors had already blocked the entrances and exits of the government palace located in Tuxtla Gutiérrez to demand attention to various demands.
Official sources reported that inside the government palace, dozens of officials from different departments, including the Government Secretariat, Ismael Brito Mazariegos, employees of the state government, and citizens who had come to carry out some paperwork remained unable to leave.
The lawyer Diego Cadenas Gordillo, the legal representative of a group of indigenous people, who in May 2016 were evicted from the Puebla ejido, municipality of Chenalhó, said that no injuries were reported as a result of the confrontations with police elements at approximately 8:00 p.m. this Friday.
Cardenas Gordillo commented that the more than 40 relocated persons from Chenaló and the more than 100 normalistas students have maintained an alliance for two years to fight together for their respective demands, closing the entrances and exits to the palace since this Friday morning, with the purpose of putting pressure on the authorities to attend to their requests.
He also explained that the students of the normal Mactumatzá, based in the state capital, demanded the construction of a boarding school, to hire six employees and that more resources to be allocated to normal schools throughout the country.
On the other hand, the people from Chenaló, demand justice for the homicide of Guadalupe Cruz Hernández, murdered in May 2016, when 254 residents of the Puebla ejido were evicted, since to date only one of the five warrants issued by the judge has been executed.
They also demand to dismantle a paramilitary group in the zone and reparation of the damage caused to their property,” as well as to create the necessary conditions for their return or to be relocated.
Cadenas Gordillo stated that the police fired tear gas and used a tank that produced a “stunning” sound to disperse the protesters.
A state official who was inside the palace, who requested anonymity, said that before the eviction, the normalistas “threw homemade bombs into the basement of the government building.”
The SSyPC reported that “the anti-riot elements acted under the eviction protocol with respect for human rights and restored order by evicting” the protesters.
Source: jornada.com.mx
