MEXICO: Hundreds of left-wing protesters alleging fraud in a tight presidential election shut down Mexico's stock market building yesterday, although the demonstration had no impact on trading.
The stock exchange, a symbol of free market reforms in Mexico, stands on the elegant Reforma boulevard that runs through central Mexico City. It was seized on Sunday by supporters of left-wing presidential candidate, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Mr Lopez Obrador is heading street protests to put pressure on Mexico's electoral court to order a full recount of votes in the July 2nd presidential election he narrowly lost to conservative ruling party candidate, Felipe Calderon.
Thousands of protesters have seized the capital's vast Zocalo square and Reforma boulevard this week, causing four straight days of traffic chaos. The protests have been peaceful, but are angering residents and alienating some former Lopez Obrador supporters. He has apologised for the disruption, but insisted it was a small price to pay.
Speaking from a stage in the square, one of the world's largest, the former Mexico City mayor said he would decide whether to step up the campaign of civil disobedience after a court decision over a recount, which he expected within days.
"It causes annoyance, anger, we know that, but there is no other choice . . . we have to make democracy count in our country," he said while protesters mobbed him during a tour of their camps.
Mr Calderon, who insists there was no fraud, urged calm in a prime-time television call for peace. "I have acted responsibly and not reacted to provocation, because I firmly believe in the power of the peaceful and because we won cleanly," he said.
Mr Lopez Obrador, who has promised ambitious welfare programmes and infrastructure spending, has a loyal following in Mexico City and among Mexico's poor.
"He has helped the poor," said Rafael Zuniga, who voted for President Vicente Fox in 2000 but now backs Mr Lopez Obrador and joined the occupation of Mexico City's business district.
He said some residents had hurled abuse at him and at other protesters, who are sleeping on the ground on a main intersection, cooking meals over a gas burner and who have not bathed since Sunday.
"The people who go by in their cars are just fighting for themselves, for their own money, their own jobs. They are not looking out for anyone else," he said.
Critics call Mr Lopez Obrador a rabble-rouser.
"If this is what Lopez Obrador is like as a candidate, I don't want him to be president," said Victor Manuel Luna, the head of reception at a downtown hotel where occupancy has slumped since the protests began on Sunday night.
EU observers say they found no evidence of fraud, but Mr Lopez Obrador says he has evidence vote returns were tampered with. He wants the electoral court to order a full recount. The court has until August 31st to decide, meaning the political deadlock could drag on for at least another month. - (Reuters)