Riot police have entered the town of San Salvador Atenco near Mexico City, and at least one 14 year old boy has been killed. Both the police and the rioters have taken hostages, and large scale demonstrations are being planned for tomorrow, Friday. This is not being reported in any of the major mainstream media in the US yet, so I thought I would share what I know.
(photos from the Okupazion Auditorio Che Guevara web site)
San Salvador Atenco is considered a 'rebel' town. Five years ago the government tried to build a new airport there but the town blocked the efforts, kicked out the mayor, and established a form of self rule. Apparently, recent plans to build a WalMart in Atenco were also not received with much enthusiasm (WalMart is the biggest private employer in Mexico, and I think the logic is that Mexicans should be grateful for the opportunity to be exploited).
In recent days, the EZLN (Zapatista Army of National Liberation), visited the town as part of its 'Other' (as in Alternative) Campaign. Mexicans will elect a new president in July, and the candidates from the major parties (the right-wing PAN, the left-wing (at least in name) PRD, and the oligarchic-but-disintegrating PRI) represent the usual mixture of incompetence, corruption, and alignment to interests other than those of the average Mexican. [Parenthetically, it is interesting to see from a distance how the middle class --to which I suppose my family and friends belong-- and the media that caters to them are in a quasi-hysterical state over the possibility that the PRD will win.]
The goal of the Other Campaign, according to the EZLN and its spokesperson, Subcomandante Marcos, (pictured below entering Atenco), is to represent the people in a process outside the farce of the electoral system. While the Zapatistas have not managed to put forth a practical political agenda, they do have the support of the working class, and situations such as the one unfolding in Atenco is probably going to help their cause.
According to Indymedia Mexico and a Mexico Solidarity Network email alert, violence erupted when police tried to evict 'illegal' flower sellers from a market near the proposed WalMart site. Reuters describes the aftermath of the riots in Atenco today as follows:
Squads of police went house to house on Thursday, scaling concrete walls in search of missing officers and militant leaders, and hustling out bloodied prisoners to waiting pickup trucks. The acrid smell of tear gas hung in the air.
There are calls to block principal avenues in Mexico City, and a major demonstration led by Marcos is being planned for tomorrow in Tlatelolco, the site where in 1968 the government massacred protesting students. It could get ugly. Then again maybe one cannot expect a nation where half of the population lives below the poverty line to be stable.
There has been a riot in Santiago, a small town 25 kilometers from Mexico City. Violence exploded when three flower sellers were arrested on suspicion of trading without permits. 

Rioters attacked the police with sticks, machetes and petrol bombs.

Thousands of police quelled the crowd with tear gas and batons. Dozens were arrested. The arrested include peasant leader, Ignacio del Valle.

All 11 police officers held hostage by rioters were released. 

Javier Cortes Santiago, a fourteen year old boy, was killed in the riots. 

In 2002 rioters managed to cancel plans to build an airport in the town.