Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Mexico City shopkeepers, hotels and museums are losing millions of dollars a day as election protesters block the capital's main thoroughfare with a maze of tents -- complete with art galleries, theaters and line dancing.

Opposition presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador called the blockade July 30 to protest elections that he says were fraudulent. The tents now cover a 12-kilometer (7.5 - mile) stretch of Paseo de la Reforma, causing businesses to lose as much as $23 million a day during the late-summer tourist rush, said Lorenzo Ysasi Martinez, president of the National Chamber of Commerce, Services and Tourism for Mexico City.

Business leaders blame Mexico City authorities, saying they're failing to enforce laws that prohibit blocking main roadways. Lopez Obrador's Party of the Democratic Revolution, which governs the city, has mobilized police in riot gear to direct traffic, set up barricades and even prevent customers and employees from entering banks, stores and other buildings.

``Mexico City's government isn't following its own rules,'' Ysasi said. ``The last two weeks of summer vacation for school children are the two most important weeks during the whole year for tourism in Mexico City.''

Occupancy at the Emporio hotel on Reforma has fallen as low as 35 percent from about 90 percent before the protest, said Victor Manuel Luna, reception manager. Sales at the hotel's restaurant have fallen about 60 percent, he said.

``If it continues much longer, we will have to lay people off,'' he said.

Carlos Cano, 31, who has been shining shoes outside the Fiesta Americana hotel, a unit of Mexico City-based Grupo Posadas SA, for seven years, said his business is down 60 percent.

Government `Mockery'

``This is really bad,'' Cano said, looking at the nearby tents. ``This is a mockery of what government is supposed to be.''

On July 6, election officials finished a two-part count of the July 2 election, which showed ruling National Action Party candidate Felipe Calderon won by 243,934 of the 40.9 million valid votes cast.

The Federal Electoral Court, which is scrutinizing some of the votes, must announce a president-elect by Sept. 6. Mexico's next president is to take office Dec. 1.

Since the initial results were announced, Lopez Obrador supporters have periodically demonstrated outside the stock exchange and office buildings. On some occasions, police have blocked access to buildings, including banks owned by HSBC Holdings Plc and Citigroup Inc.

During a July 30 rally in the city center, Lopez Obrador, 52, who was mayor from 2000 to 2005, called on supporters to maintain a ``permanent protest.''

Tent City

The following morning, a patchwork of tents began to spread on the eight lanes of Reforma. Within a few days, green tarps supported by metal poles covered the boulevard from sidewalk to sidewalk.

An average of 8,000 people a day participate, according to a count by the El Universal newspaper. About 1 million people joined early protest marches, before the tents went up, according to Mexico City police, who report to leaders of Lopez Obrador's party.

Families eat meals that are served for free or cook on camp stoves, and attend hundreds of daily cultural activities, from history lectures to movies. One recent evening, people line- danced in a makeshift nightclub while loudspeakers blared the Spanish version of the country song ``Achy Breaky Heart.''

Plans for September

If Calderon, 44, is confirmed as winner, the protests will continue until at least Sept. 16, when Lopez Obrador is scheduled to address supporters, said Ghandi Gongora, 35, a graphic designer who announced a schedule of cultural events over a public address system to people sitting on folding chairs.

``That's when we will learn how the protest plan will proceed,'' Gongora said. Sept. 16 is Mexico's Independence Day.

Paseo de la Reforma was built under orders from Maximilian, who was emperor of Mexico from 1864 to 1867. Modeled on Paris's Champs Elysees, Reforma links Maximilian's castle to the city's colonial center, where Latin America's largest cathedral stands beside excavated Aztec pyramids.

Buildings along Reforma include the National Museum of Anthropology, the U.S. Embassy, the stock exchange, hotels and hundreds of shops.

Since the blockade began, visitors to the Museum of Modern Art have dropped by about 90 percent, spokesman Ulises Leyva said. During the first 15 days of August, attendance at the Museum of Anthropology fell 20 percent from a year earlier to 27,339 visits, said Alma Olguin Vazquez, a museum spokeswoman.

Conventions Postponed

Laura Canepa, a spokeswoman for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., a group that includes Sheraton and Westin hotels, said customers had delayed conventions.

``People who had planned events are preferring to postpone them,'' Canepa said in a telephone interview from Buenos Aires.

Alejandro Encinas, the city's current mayor, has declined to explain why the city has allowed Party of the Democratic Revolution members to block roads while it has clamped down on other demonstrators. After police prevented a group of students from blocking Avenida Insurgentes, another of the city's major thoroughfares, on Aug. 7, Encinas said city officials were handling all protests appropriately.

``We have done what we have done acting with responsibility and we will keep doing that,'' Encinas said at an Aug. 8 news conference.

To contact the reporters on this story: Patrick Harrington in Mexico City at pharrington8@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 22, 2006 00:06 EDT