Twenty masked demonstrators took to the streets in Bloomington yesterday in solidarity with the struggle in Oaxaca and in memory of a fellow insurgent, Brad Will. Carrying signs that read "Solidaridad con Oaxaca", "BP $ = Pemex $", and "Victory to insurgent Oaxaca" they shut down a BP gas station and the intersection of 3rd and Indiana, one of the busiest in downtown Bloomington. Business was shut down for more than ten minutes while protestors danced around the gas pumps, while also leaving solidarity messages in their wake. Traffic was mostly blocked during that time, though a number of aggressive drivers managed to break through the demonstration's lines.

During confrontations with angry drivers, demonstrators explained that while they wanted to convey word of the struggle in Oaxaca to people in Bloomington, their priorities were to inflict financial harm on interests tied to the Mexican state and to spread the methods of struggle adopted by rebels in Oaxaca (road blockades in particular) beyond Oaxaca.

The group dispersed quickly when word came that police were on the way. No arrests were made.

The demonstration was organized spontaneously and performed quickly, which meant that it required little time or energy to put together. For these reasons, and because of the failure of the police to arrive quickly, these kinds of actions can be done repeatedly in a short amount of time against those complicit in Brad Will's death and the attempts by the Mexican state to drown in blood the Oaxacan revolt.

BP is but one of a number of multinationals with ties to Pemex, the state-owned oil company in Mexico. Both Exxon and Shell, in particular, maintain close and lucrative relationships with Pemex. Other large firms with ties to the Mexican state include Grupo Bimbo and ISMA.
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