Up to six people killed in Nochixtlán

The head of Public Security of the State of Oaxaca, Jorge Ruiz Martínez, reported six fatalities, 41 injured federal police officers, 14 injured state police officers, and 53 wounded civilians.

At a press conference with governor Gabino Cué and National Public Security Commissioner, Enrique Galindo, Ruiz Martínez reported that five of the fatalities are in possession of the authorities, while the other is with relatives, who are against any forensic investigations on the body.

He added that 21 people were arrested after being caught red-handed during the commission of diverse crimes.

The incidents in Nochixtlán began when the authorities tried to remove the groups of members of the dissident National Coordination of Education Workers from the downtown area. In the end, the teachers retaliated using rocks, sticks and firecrackers.

Ruiz Martínez expressed that initially the teachers accepted to open the roads in the area, but an hour later unidentified groups took the area and attacked the police and civilians using fire weapons, hurting 41 police officers and 53 civilians.

The teachers from the National Coordinator of Education Workers, or CNTE, are opposed to the mandatory testing of teachers as part of Mexico's sweeping education reform and are also protesting the arrest of union leaders on money laundering and other charges.