One man was killed and several policemen were injured when machete-wielding peasants clashed with police after a scuffle with flower sellers got out of hand.
   
Trouble broke out in this notoriously fractious farming town outside Mexico City after police arrested three men during a raid on roadside flower traders on Wednesday.
   
It quickly turned into a riot, with a mob burning tires and throwing rocks and gasoline bombs to demand the release of the men and about 400 policemen trying to restore order.
   
A Reuters photographer at the scene said one peasant was killed in the mayhem, and six police officers were taken hostage by protesters. Television images showed rioters kicking and stomping on apparently unconscious policemen.
   
The mob dragged away at least one policeman, and local media reported a number of wounded policemen were hospitalized, some with head wounds from having been beaten with sticks.
   
San Salvador Atenco, 24 km northeast of the capital, is known for its machete-armed peasants. Five years ago they blocked President Vicente Fox's plan to build an airport there with a standoff that lasted several days.
   
Zapatista rebel leader Subcomandante Marcos, who headed a brief but bloody uprising in the Indian dominated southern state of Chiapas in 1994, said his guerrilla army was on red alert following the clashes.
   
Leftist Marcos, who is on a tour of Mexico City, has hardened his political stance in recent days, calling for the overthrow of the government and vowing to expel foreign capital from the country.