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Gunbattle kills U.S. cameraman, injures several others in southern Mexico(Comtex Community Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) MEXICO CITY, Oct 27, 2006 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- A gunbattle broke out on Friday as residents clashed with protesters in the southern Mexican city of Oaxaca, leaving one American journalist dead and several others injured, local police said. Police said there was no immediate information on the identity of the cameraman, who was shot in the abdomen and died later at a hospital. But Florentino Lopez, spokesman of the Oaxacan People's Popular Assembly (APPO), the protest movement, said that the cameraman, named Brad Will, worked for the independent media website Indymedia. Lopez added that there were several others injured in the shooting, including a Mexican photographer. The shootout erupted when the residents tried to remove the blockades set up by the protesters, who have demanded the resignation of Oaxaca Governor Ulises Ruiz, whom they accuse of rigging the 2004 election to win and of using violence against his opponents. The incident came a day after the protesters, mostly teachers, agreed to end their strike, which began on May 22 as the teachers from the 70,000-strong section of the National Education Workers Union (SNTE) and members of the APPO demonstrated for higher pay. During the five-month strike, some 1.2 million primary and secondary students could not attend classes, and at least five people have died, four of them teachers. Copyright 2006 XINHUA NEWS AGENCY. |