Mexican Indians seize 20 police in land dispute

By The Associated Press
Friday, May 28, 2010 at 8:25 p.m.

ACAPULCO, Mexico — People in an Indian village in southern Mexico have disarmed and seized about 20 police officers and are demanding the cancellation of arrest warrants that arose from a local land dispute.

The officers are being held in one of the poorest and most remote areas of the Pacific coast state of Guerrero.

The state government says a nearby rival village had accused inhabitants of the Nahua Indian community of Zaragoza of stealing their vehicles during a confrontation over land claimed by both sides.

Police arrived in Zaragoza on Friday to arrest those responsible, but were surrounded and prevented from leaving by inhabitants.

Such seizures are often used as a pressure tactic in rural Mexico, but they sometimes turn violent.

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