While many San Franciscans prepared for Halloween, as many as 200 people assembled outside of the Mexican consulate to protest the deployment of Mexican federal police into the state of Oaxaca.

What began as a peaceful demonstration, complete with a candle-lit altar decorated with signs listing the names of eight people who were killed last weekend during protests in Oaxaca, lost momentum after political activist David Solnit was arrested for throwing red paint on the consulate door.

As Solnit was led to a police car on charges of malicious mischief, protesters shouted in his defense that the paint was water-based and could easily be cleaned off.

One event organizer, Miguel Roboles of the Comité Defensa del Voto, said the action was thoughtless and provocative.

“We have a different way,” Roboles said. “We want to do something peacefully.”

Roboles said such an aggressive action compromised the work protest organizers put into encouraging local support of the issue and that police intervention could frighten off factions of people who could otherwise lend a voice to strengthen the movement.

“These people don’t understand because they are from here,” Roboles said of some of the more agitated protesters. “It is very delicate.”

Other than Solnit’s arrest, Roboles was pleased with the protest’s turnout. Demonstrators spilled into the streets and, according to Roboles, as many as 22 organizations were represented.

“I think it was very diverse, many people from different places and organizations,” Roboles said.

Despite their diverse backgrounds, many of the participants agreed that they were there for the same reason. As Simon Walker, 30, described it, “I’m here to protest the government repression of peaceful protesters in Oaxaca.”

Some of the protesters in San Francisco said they had followed the situation in Oaxaca since it began, adding that this was not the first protest they had attended. In fact, last night’s demonstration was the third to take place in front of the consulate in 36 hours.

The protest began at 5 p.m., the crowd quickly swelling from 55 to nearly 200 people. “Solidarity” and “unity” were on the lips of many attendees who came with signs, candles and banners that condemned the actions of the Mexican government in Oaxaca.

Mexican President Vicente Fox sent federal police to Oaxaca to calm protests, which have racked the city since late May. Protests in Oaxaca began as a teachers’ strike and were soon after embraced as a movement to oust Oaxaca's state governor, Ulises Ruiz. Ruiz has been accused of rigging the 2004 election and violently suppressing his political opposition.

Since May, media reports have offered conflicting accounts of the number of protesters killed in Oaxaca. However, it was the recent shooting death of American journalist Brad Will that garnered mainstream media attention to the unrest in Oaxaca, serving as a platform for demonstrations in cities across the United States. Will was a contributor to the alternative news Web site Indymedia.org.

The Mexican congress joined in the call for Ruiz’s resignation, but the governor refused to concede. Despite the presence of federal police, according to the Associated Press, protests in Oaxaca persist.

Among the protesters outside of the consulate in San Francisco was Todd Chretien, a California candidate for U.S. Senate and SF State alumnus, who was also a speaker at the event.

Chretien said he participated in the protest to show solidarity with the people of Oaxaca and that the demonstration served to, “Put the Mexican government on notice that people all over the world are watching.”

Mayra Mendoza, 23, a student at Berkeley City College, hopes it is not only the Mexican government that gets the notice, but the people of Oaxaca as well.

“It’s really good to feel the support of the people here and I hope the message gets down to Oaxaca so they know that they’re not alone,” she said.