Sporadic protests continue in Xiomera against ongoing forced relocations from urban areas to rural ones, despite the best efforts by Imperial authorities to suppress them.
The latest protests have occurred in several rural areas in the Tecuala, Huaxtumba, Huajicori and Xochiatipan provinces. Previous protests, which are still occurring occasionally, were staged by urban dwellers resisting the government’s move to relocate them to the rural areas. The newest round of protests, however, are being staged by rural residents. They cite concerns of increased traffic, competition for housing and jobs, and overcrowding as reasons for their opposition to the “New Cities Project”.
Many of the rural residents also cite concerns about their way of life changing as a result of a large influx of new people in their communities. “We like our lives the way they are here. If we wanted to live like big city people, we’d live in the city,” one protester who refused to give his name told DTNS. “We choose to live in the country, and now the powers that be want to bring the city to us. No one asked us, and we don’t like it,” he added, before the protest was interrupted by the arrival of Imperial Police who dispersed it with water cannons.
In Tlālacuetztla, Imperial officials said that the protests were minor. They also accused Huenya’s intelligence service, the FIS, of infiltrating their country and provoking people to protest. “We have ample evidence showing that the FIS is inserting agents into Xiomera posing as protesters to agitate people and stage these protests,” Prime Minister Toquihu told Xiomeran media. “There will be a response from the Empire for this provocation, you can be sure of that.”
Xiomera lodges protest with Salad Land
The government of Xiomera has lodged a diplomatic protest with the government of Salad Land, after that nation expelled a high-ranking Imperial legislator and her entourage.
Almahuatzan, MP from Texca and Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on National Defense, was vacationing in Salad Land when she was reportedly involved in an altercation with government employees involved in some kind of animal control duties. When the MP tried to lodge a complaint with local police, the ruler of Salad Land, Marquis Bastien de Salad, reportedly kicked her and her group out of the country by fiat.
“The incident in Salad Land is a clear insult to the honor and dignity of our Parliament, and by extension, our nation,” Prime Minister Toquihu told Xiomeran media. “Xiomera expects satisfaction on this matter, and we shall have it.”
The Saladian government has refused to comment on the incident.