Six people are dead and more than 100 others wounded in protests over education reforms in Mexico.
“Teachers canceled classes in Oaxaca on Monday after the violence, where protesters threw rocks and Molotov cocktails and set vehicles ablaze,” writes Joshua Partlow, the Washington Post’s bureau chief in Mexico. “Witnesses reported that police fired into the crowds.”
New reforms require mandatory testing for all teachers. The government fired 5,000 teachers who refused to take part in the testing and dissolved a state education agency that was controlled by the dissident faction of the union.
The protests were started by a dissident faction of the National Coordinator of Education Workers, the national teachers’ union. In addition to this weekend’s protests, the past members of the faction have “blocked roads, burned buildings, seized oil-distribution facilities and tried to boycott last year’s midterm elections,” Partlow says. They also shaved the heads of teachers who dared to defy their strike.
Mexican authorities say none of the dead are teachers, but did include youths and local merchants who may have been bystanders. Among the wounded are 55 police officers.
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
