MEXICO CITY, April 29 (Reuters) – Students demanding access
to university hostels set fire to two police cars in street
protests in the Mexican city of Morelia on Saturday that led to
200 arrests, local media reported on Sunday.
Masked men sprayed a police pick-up with gasoline and then
set it ablaze with molotov cocktails on one of the busiest
streets of Morelia, television images showed.
The protesters, mainly young men, were demanding local
government funding to maintain access to student hostels from
which they had were evicted by police.
Some students set fire to mattresses in one of the hostels
to avoid arrest, television images showed. The building caught
fire and firemen were called in to put out the blaze.
Morelia, a colonial city, is the capital of Michoacan, the
home state of President Felipe Calderon.
Michoacan Governor Fausto Vallejo said police acted within
the law evicting students from three hostels early on Saturday.
“In Michoacan we have laws that have to be obeyed. Let’s not
confuse social struggle with illegal acts,” Vallejo said on his
Twitter account. He said 198 people were arrested and seven were
hurt.
State officials were not immediately available for further
comment on the arrests.
(Reporting by Cyntia Barrera Diaz; Editing by Anthony Boadle)
