MEXICO CITY (AP) - Anti-NAFTA protesters stormed the lower house of the Mexican Congress late Tuesday, riding horses into the lobby and breaking down an ornate wooden door as they spilled onto the legislative floor.
A visibly shaken Beatriz Paredes, the legislature's president, begged for calm and called on federal authorities to intervene as more than 150 farmers, ranchers and teachers broke up a legislative session where legislators had been discussing next year's budget.
Police said the attack on Congress was organized by the National Co-ordination of Education Workers, a union that had camped out in front of the legislature building near downtown Mexico City for several days to demand higher wages for teachers.
They were joined last week by farmers and ranchers angered by agricultural concessions Mexico is preparing to make in accordance with the U.S.-Canada-Mexico North American Free Trade Agreement. Many of the sympathy protesters brought horses and cows.
No one was injured in the attack, which saw protesters crowd around a podium where Paredes oversees legislative sessions and chant anti-government slogans.
Struggling to be heard over protesters' shouts, Peredes said legislators would not listen to those who use violence to put their point across.
After a few tense minutes of shouting and finger-pointing, most of the protesters who had fought their way onto the legislative floor returned to the lobby. They refused to heed police demands they leave the building altogether, however.
Police said the attack began when protesters used metal poles and iron bars to open an iron gate that rings the legislative palace. They then forced their way past security guards, smashed a glass partition and forced open a wooden door to reach the legislative floor.
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