MEXICO CITY - Mexican police arrested the symbolic leader of a six-month-long protest movement that took over southern Oaxaca city, hours after he gave a news conference saying he had come to the capital to start talks with the government.

Flavio Sosa one of the founders of the Oaxaca People's Assembly, APPO, arrives at news conference in Mexico City, Mexico, Monday, Dec. 4, 2006. [AP]

Flavio Sosa, whose heavyset, bearded presence became an emblem of the leftist People's Assembly of Oaxaca, was arrested late Monday in Mexico City on charges of kidnapping, robbery, and causing damages and injuries, federal prosecutors said in a press statement. The allegations were apparently related to the barricades, vandalism and irregular detentions carried out by some protesters.

"Sosa ... is known for his use of violence, damaging private property and public byways, and also burning vehicles and buildings in Oaxaca City," prosecutors said.

Sosa was taken to a maximum security prison just west of Mexico City for arraignment. The facility that holds some of the nation's most dangerous prisoners.

While Sosa is a member of a larger leadership council, he appeared to be largely in control of the protest movement, and police called him "the main leader."

Sosa has downplayed his role, saying last month, "We are all equal. But my big beard and big stomach have made me become the favorite leader of the press and the police."

On Monday before his arrest, Sosa told reporters he had come to Mexico City in an attempt to re-establish negotiations with the government and escape what he described as persecution in Oaxaca. A spokesman for the people's assembly, Florentino Lopez, told the government news agency Notimex that talks would continue with the government despite Sosa's arrest, but it was unclear who would represent the protesters.

Just a few hours before he was detained, Sosa held a news conference in which he said he left Oaxaca to avoid the "fierce persecution of the police and Ulises Ruiz' hit men," referring to Oaxaca Gov. Ulises Ruiz, whose resignation the protesters had demanded.

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