Video: Russian tourist is attacked by protesters from Oxchuc, Chiapas for not paying roadblock fee

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According to the victim, she was traveling on the Ocosingo-San Cristóbal de Las Casas highway, aboard a private vehicle when she was attacked by a group of protesters from the municipality of Oxchuc.

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A Russian tourist traveling on a highway in the Mexican state of Chiapas (southeast) was beaten up by a group of protesters, the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) reported on Monday.

In a statement, the institution explained that, through the Altos District Prosecutor’s Office, it opened a record of care for the crime of damage and injuries against those responsible for the attack on a woman of Russian nationality, in the municipality of Oxchuc.

According to the victim, named Denis “N”, this Monday she was traveling along the Ocosingo-San Cristóbal de Las Casas highway, aboard a private vehicle with Quintana Roo state plates, when she was attacked by a group of native protesters of the municipality of Oxchuc.

The woman said that the protesters took her out of the vehicle after she refused to pay a fee (a kind of informal toll) that they demanded, after which they vandalized the car and beat her, although she managed to flee the place.

The Prosecutor’s Office said that due to these facts the Public Ministry is conducting the corresponding investigations for the correct integration of the investigation.

In addition, it condemned the attack and said that it will continue the corresponding investigations with the purpose of defining responsibilities and that the crime does not go unpunished.

In the state of Chiapas, roadblocks by protesters who seek to publicize conflicts in their communities are common.

The protesters take advantage of the enormous number of buffers that exist in some road sections of the state to install a kind of checkpoints where tourist vehicles stop, at which point they force drivers to pay fees of one dollar (about 20 pesos) for each passenger.

If the fee is paid the trip continues, otherwise the protesters vandalize the vehicles.

San Cristobal Post