Thousands of protestors marched from Santa Maria de Coyotec for 8 kilometers to surround the Zòcalo. The original plan was to surround the Zòcalo for 48 hours, trapping the PFP inside. However, about two hours after the arrival of the protestors (5pm), a battle ensued between both groups. This was reminiscent of the battle on Monday, but on a grander scale. Most of the fighting happened at the intersection of Macedonio Alcalá and Moreles, but it spread for blocks all around. Much of the youth came prepared with shopping carts full of rocks and a bus carried homemade shields, Molotov bottles, and firecrackers. Women and men used rocks to break the sidewalk and walls at the edges of historic buildings so that they could send more supplies to the front. A doctor and ambulance waited on the side streets to help the injured. After 17 hours of fighting, over one hundred people were injured, three of them reporters, and most of them from the tear gas. Many suffered injuries from being hit by gas canisters and rocks. The PFP were fairly indiscriminate with who they attacked; reporters and passers-by were hit by projectiles. Hundreds of people stood at intersections a couple blocks away so that they could witness the event. But it was never long before the tear gas came too close and everyone had to run to the next block.
Many buildings and businesses were damaged. When the fighting first started, rocks were thrown at a building because protestors saw PFP standing on the roof. One building was set on fire, I am unsure of the cause, but it did not suffer much damage. La Jornada reports that one of the damaged buildings is the Sociology department at UABJO.
For about 20 minutes, I waited on the hill above Santo Domingo and was able to see the fighting down below. Tear gas and the smoke from fireworks filled the air and lit up the sky. It looked like a mini-war going on beneath me. A man standing next to me introduced himself as a painter. He was proud to tell me that he had thrown some rocks at the PFP. I asked him if he was scared and he replied, “no, not at all.”
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