On Monday 16 July at 11am, the Municipal Police attacked a protest organised by the APPO (Popular Assembly of Oaxaca) and section 22 of the Teachers' Union. The protesters had attempted to enter the Guelaguetza auditorium in the Cerro del Fortín, where they were hoping to celebrate an 'alternative' Guelaguetza festival. Reports on Mexico Indymedia state that police of many forces (Municipal, 'Preventive', Federal Preventive) beat teachers and protesters and hurled tear gas grenades at businesses, homes and public buildings. Reporters of the newspapers Reforma, Noticias and Marca y Tiempo were injured while covering the police riot and beating of protesters. Reports of the numbers detained vary from fifty to sixty, with dozens injured and one death.

The violence coincides with the particularly heavy policing of the official "Guelaguetza 2007" festival, which is a major tourist event attracting much government and private money. Despite the state government having declared its complete respect for the right of people to celebrate this festival, the location traditional used, the Cerro del Fortín, was cordoned off with the involvement of the army, federal preventive police and other agencies of the government.

This is greatest police violence witnessed in Oaxaca since November 2006, when the city was assaulted by the Police and Army in response to their ejection by enraged citizens (sparked off by violence against a Teachers' strike) back in June 2006. In the period from June to November 2006 Oaxaca was not subject to state government control, and so was able to organize popular forms of government - most notably the Popular Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO), whose basic demand was the removal of Govenor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz.

There is a call for international action against this repression, to be held on the 18th and 19th of July.

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