Mexican Border Riots Protest Tariffs

More than 2,000 people protesting tariffs on U.S. goods rioted at border crossings Sunday, torching buildings and forcing customs officers to flee, officials and witnesses said.

The Customs Service closed two international bridges at Laredo, Tex., after the demonstration turned violent on the Mexican side.

A boy was hit by a rock and seriously injured and dozens of other people suffered minor injuries in the melee, which ended by midafternoon, witnesses said.

Fires were set in at least four offices of the Mexican customs complex at the border, and local businesses were looted.

Antonio Martinez Contreras, a reporter for the Mexican newspaper Laredo Ahora, said police arrested 50 people before regaining control. He also said that about $100,000 worth of Mexican pesos was taken from the buildings.

At the height of the violence, the reporter said, more than four dozen outnumbered customs officers fled across the international bridges, throwing their guns in the water so they could be admitted by the United States. It is illegal for a private citizen to bring a firearm into the country.

Nuevo Laredo residents have been angered by new import taxes. Citizens in Mexico’s interior are allowed up to $300 worth of goods duty free at a time, but the city’s residents are limited to $50 worth.

Staples such as flour, beans and rice have been in short supply in the city, and most residents buy groceries in the United States.