Supporters of leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said their once-peaceful protest movement would become openly defiant of Mexican law if a full recount isn't ordered in the disputed presidential race.

Lopez Obrador supporters, backed by the city government, have already seized main streets in the heart of the capital, setting up protest camps on the elegant Reforma Avenue and clashing with federal police outside Congress.

Gerardo Fernandez, a close aide to Lopez Obrador, refused to say what illegal acts supporters were planning. But he told reporters Wednesday the campaign of civil disobedience will begin after a mass meeting on September 16 and will "imply a position of rebellion against authorities." He said, however, the movement will not include an "armed insurgency."
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"The right is trying to impose a president, and we are not going to let this happen," Fernandez said.

Mexico's Federal Electoral Court is weighing appeals in the close race between Lopez Obrador and ruling party candidate Felipe Caldron, who has an advantage of less than 1 percent. The court has until September 6 to declare a president-elect.

Protesters sympathetic to Lopez Obrador are already planning to demonstrate outside Congress on September 1 when President Vicente Fox makes his state-of-the-nation address, and they refuse to move their tents for the country's Independence Day celebrations on September 15-16, possibly forcing the cancellation of celebrations that include a military parade and thousands gathering to shout "Viva Mexico!" with the president.

Fernandez said that these actions, which he describes as "legal civil resistance," will pale in comparison to the new civil disobedience campaign.

There are also fears of confrontation in southern Chiapas, where the Zapatista rebels staged an uprising in 1994 and tensions always run high among rival, armed groups in the countryside.

Lopez Obrador flew to Chiapas on Wednesday to support his party's gubernatorial candidate, who is running neck-and-neck with the contender backed by Fox's conservative National Action Party.

Meanwhile, the electoral court on Wednesday overturned the victory of a federal deputy from Lopez Obrador's Democratic Revolution Party, saying it broke electoral laws by having elected city officials supervising a polling booth. The seat will instead go to a lawmaker from the once-dominant Institutional Revolutionary Party, which will have the third-largest bloc in Congress.

The decision still left Democratic Revolution with the second-largest number of seats in Congress, behind National Action.

Lopez Obrador insists a recount of all 41 million votes would expose widespread fraud and award him the presidency. Calderon's campaign claims the election was clean and has criticized protesters for "kidnapping" the capital.

With tensions rising in the capital, more than 1,000 federal police in black body armor have encircled the Congress with steel barriers and armored vehicles, prompting the leftist Mexico City government to accuse the Fox administration of authoritarianism.

But Fox's spokesman, Ruben Aguilar, said Wednesday the extra security is needed to stop protesters from taking over the building.

"It would be a chaotic situation and send a negative message to the world if Congress was occupied," Aguilar said.

(Chinadaily.com via agencies August 17, 2006)