MEXICO CITY, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Clashes erupted between striking teachers and riot police in the southern Mexican city of Oaxaca on Wednesday and strikers said that four had been killed in the conflict.

    The clashes broke out when 2,000 police tried to evict striking teachers from the main square in Oaxaca where they had been camped for three weeks, demanding higher wages.

    Enrique Rueda Pacheco, an organizer of the strikes, said that police had shot and killed two teachers and two minors.

    Ulises Ruiz, state governor, denied that any deaths had taken place and demanded the teachers show the bodies.

    Rueda claimed that police had removed the bodies from the scene.

    Local media said more than 30 people had been injured and that over 50 strikers had been arrested.

    Some 40,000 teachers took part in the protests on Wednesday. They initially gained the upper hand, driving police into the Palace Museum but they were then dispersed with tear gas.

    Oaxaca, a city that is listed as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations, is capital of the southern Mexican state of the same name. Enditem