Help Clue the Clueless: Oaxaca [View All]

[Posteritatis]

*dons his The Clueless hat*

Okay, so something's been going on in the city of Oaxaca as far as the growing protests against the Mexican election (or "election" or selection or whatever it is - insufficient data, at least in my as-yet ignorant head). I've seen news articles here and there over the last couple of days saying one thing or another - that there's been shots fired there, that the city's been overtaken by peaceful demonstrations, etc. Past that, all I know (thanks to an earlier thread here, at that!) is that it's apparently a fairly large city known for tourist festivals and that folks seem to speak well of the place and its population.

That's also about the bulk of what I've been able to get out of the news so far, being on the opposite corner of the continent in a country traditionally not that interested in Mexico, and juggling a bunch of other more pressing concerns at the same time. Past that the main thing I know about Mexican politics is that they're emerging from a fairly long period as a de facto one-party state, and there's obviously going to be growing pains with that. So I'm wondering if someone or folks in general could help paint a picture for those of us whose radars don't reach the place but want to know what's up.

So what has been going on there, and for how long? Is it "just" continued demonstrations, or are more drastic things happening? How's the government responding, if it has? Is there precedent in the past for this sort of thing, and if so, what ended up coming out of it? Is this happening in other towns and cities in Mexico (probably the most important thing to know!)?