Mexicans Looting ....Imagine That

By WILL WEISSERT

CANCUN, Mexico (AP) - Mexicans and stranded tourists, hungry and frustrated after a two-day beating by Hurricane Wilma, stood in line to buy supplies Sunday or simply raided grocery or furniture stores, dragging goods from shops ripped open by the storm.

The hurricane's steady march toward southern Florida meant an end here to two days of howling winds and torrential rains that shattered windows, peeled away roofing and sent the ocean crashing into hotel lobbies. The sun emerged over Mexico's sugar-white Caribbean beaches.

But another kind of chaos took over, as police shot into the air to scare looters away from a shopping center, and looters responded by throwing rocks and chucks of concrete.

Downtown, officials feared looters would turn on tourists, so they quickly evacuated more than 30 foreigners from a downtown area overrun by people raiding stores.

(AP) Part of the destruction left by hurricane Wilma after it made its way throught the city of Cancun,... Full Image Military officials and police stood guard outside businesses and set up checkpoints to seize stolen goods, some firing shots into the air to scare away looters. Police evacuated 30 tourists from a downtown area overrun by people raiding stores.

"It's chaos," said fire official Gregorio Vergara. "They are taking things all over the city."

One group of residents pushed carts against the boarded-up windows of a grocery store in an attempt to break in. At a convenience store, Cancun resident Alex Aguilar took batteries and aspirin.

"The window was broken, so we just went in and got what we wanted," he said.