Mexico gas price hike spurs looting, blockades as unrest spreads

Mexicans angry over a double-digit hike in gasoline prices looted stores and blockaded roads on Wednesday, prompting over 250 arrests amid escalating unrest over the rising cost of living in Latin America’s second biggest economy. Twenty-three stores were sacked and 27 blockades put up in Mexico City, Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said, days after the

government raised gasoline costs by 14 to 20 percent, outraging Mexicans already battling rising inflation and a weak currency. Mexican retailers’ association ANTAD urged federal and state authorities to intervene quickly, saying 79 stores had been sacked and 170 forcibly closed due to blockades. FULL REPORT