By Juan Carlos Zavala and Dennis A. García
It was Sunday, June 19, at 07:45 hrs. The church bells started ringing to call people, while the Federal Police had the instruction to release the Puebla-Oaxaca highway, taken by protesters since June 11.
The eviction started around 7:30 hrs., said Guadalupe, 43; the bells started ringing 15 minutes later.
"I was in my house when I heard the bells ringing desperately,” she explained. She arrived 15 minutes later and the clashes had already started.
A week later, the Oaxaca-Puebla highway continues to be blocked with stones, tires, trucks and remains of vehicles that were torched during the clash.
Yesterday, the National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE), citizens and members of civil organizations marched to demand justice and the resignation of President Enrique Peña Nieto, Oaxaca governor Gabino Cué Monteagudo, Education Minister Aurelio Nuño and Interior Minister Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong.
According to witnesses, on Sunday 19 police began firing tear gas to free the highway while protesters retreated. In the beginning they were few, but teachers and villagers arrived at the scene to help protesters.
Both, citizens and the Federal Police agree that the first shot came from among protesters.
Some believe that radical groups that support the CNTE shot first, while others say that they were not even citizens of Nochixtlán and some even say that they could be policemen dressed as civilians.
Others claim that a sniper opened fire from atop Juquila hotel and Merli motel, located about 500 meters from the scene of the clashes, near the graveyard. In the end people decided to set the hotel in fire.
The highway was liberated while teachers and settlers sought refuge in Nochixtlán. There was confusion and a huge cloud of tear gas.
EL UNIVERSAL collected testimonies of people who were on the first row of the clashes. They admit that they used firebombs, that they even managed to surround policemen and that the police woman that was retained was beaten by enraged villagers, but not doused with gasoline.
Witnesses said that policemen threw stones and tear gas and that those who shot came from the sides, without specifying their allegiance. However, all agree on one thing: the cops taunted them.
"That is when I decided to participate in the defense of our people. From that moment onwards I stood in the front," said Pedro, who managed to strip a policeman from his shield.
A group of policemen broke the chain of one of the doors of the graveyard. Guzmán Ramírez, caretaker of the cemetery, witnessed the moment when police arrested more than 10 youths who were digging a pit for someone's funeral. One of the policemen gun pointed at him. "I told him: 'pull the trigger', but he didn't, so I managed to escape," he explained.
Federal police started shooting. Caps and bullet holes can be seen on the doors, walls and graveyards.
One of the protesters who requested to remain anonymous said: "Police arrived and we withdrew. They did not apply the protocol, we were not given time to leave. They pushed us towards the cemetery and were very upset. When they saw the crowd they could not move forward (…) and shot like crazy," he explained.
The man, from Putla Villa de Guerrero, said that the Federal Police felt overwhelmed and in fear of being held, they fired their weapons when teachers and citizens had already reached the entrance of the village and were hiding behind a truck that they used as a barricade.
Another witness says that they tried to encapsulate police officers under the bridge that crosses the highway from Puebla to Oaxaca. He says that they were in control until a helicopter started firing gas.
