Protests over a sharp gasoline price hike erupted into looting of gas stations and stores in various parts of Mexico on Wednesday, with dozens of businesses reportedly sacked.

Protesters also continued to block highways, burn tires and seize gas stations, snarling traffic and jeopardizing fuel supplies across the country.

The National Association of Self-Service and Department Stores of Mexico said in a statement that 79 stores had been looted and 170 were closed or blockaded in central Mexico, including the capital.

Residents pilfer gasoline and diesel from a gas station following protests against an increase in fuel prices in Allende, southern Veracuz State, Mexico, late Tuesday

Residents steal gasoline and diesel from a gas station following protests against an increase in fuel prices in Allende, southern Veracuz State, Mexico. The gas station attendants who had turned off the power to inactivate the pumps were intimidated by demonstrators into turning them back on, and allowing the residents to take the fuel

A group of people grabs toys as a store is ransacked by a crowd in the port of Veracruz, Mexico after frustrations over a sharp gas price hike erupt into violence

A man runs with toys as a store is ransacked by a crowd in the port of Veracruz, Mexico after gas price hikes rage out of control

Protesters block the entrance to a Pemex gas station as they burn tires during a protest against the rising prices of gasoline

A woman with a sign depicting a person held up with a gas tank pump, with the Spanish message: "Oil country, and the people without money," protests fuel price hikes by blocking access to a gas station on Calzada de Tlalpan, in Mexico City

The unrest 'resulting in the theft of merchandise put at risk the lives of clients and workers in the stores, primarily in Mexico State, Michoacan, Hidalgo and Mexico City,' the statement said.

In the Gulf coast city of Veracruz, 50 establishments including convenience stores, supermarkets and big-box outlets suffered looting, according to a preliminary count by the local chamber of commerce.

Store guards were overrun by crowds who carried off clothing, food, washing machines, televisions, DVD players and refrigerators.

Navy police secure a store after it was ransacked by a crowd in the port city of Veracruz

(Left) Suspects are detained in a police pick-up truck by navy police after a store was ransacked; (right) A woman walks away with stolen products

Police forcibly remove demonstrators who blocked a main road for about an hour as they protest hikes in gas prices in Mexico City on Wednesday

Extra police patrols were deployed, and at least 14 people were detained, the state government reported. At one supermarket officers fired into the air to disperse the multitudes.

Earlier in the day, President Enrique Pena Nieto took to the airwaves to defend his unpopular gasoline deregulation measure that resulted in price hikes of up to 20 percent over the weekend.

Toys land other products lie on the floor after a store was ransacked and looted during gas protests and related violence

Suspects are detained by navy police after a store was ransacked by a crowd in the port of Veracruz during gasoline price protests

The increases took effect as the government ends regulated prices for gasoline and diesel, which it says represented subsidies that unduly benefited wealthier Mexicans.

The change boosted the average price for a liter of premium gasoline to 17.79 pesos (about 90 cents). That makes four liters, or about a gallon, equal to nearly as much as Mexico's just raised minimum wage for a day's work - 80 pesos (about $4).

Protesters block a main road for about an hour to protest fuel price hikes in Mexico City on Wednesday

Protesters block a main road for about an hour to protest fuel price hikes in Mexico City - prices surged 20 percent in one weekend, which could cost the average person several days pay to fill their tank

Hundreds of people protest the increase in the price of gasoline in the city of Guadalajara, Mexico over a 20 percent gas price hike enforced by the government

Pena Nieto said he would try to help groups hit hard by the increases, in an apparent reference to bus, truck and taxi drivers.

'I understand the anger and irritation felt by the general public,' Pena Nieto said, saying that 'this is an action that nobody would want to take.'

'If this decision had not been taken, the effects and consequences would have been far more painful,' he added.

A man gives a thumbs up to passing drivers honking in support, after dozens of truck drivers angry over an increase in gas prices parked their vehicles, put up signs, and then waved motorists through toll booths without paying, at the Palmillas toll plaza, 102 kilometers outside Mexico City on the highway to Queretaro on Tuesday

The farm activist group El Barzon said that even with tax breaks or government support for truck drivers, 'the wave of anger and discontent among Mexicans cannot be held back.'

The state-owned oil company Pemex said Tuesday that blockades of fuel terminals in the states of Chihuahua, Morelos and Durango had caused a "critical situation" in distributing fuel to gas stations there.

A woman writes in Spanish 'No to the gasoline price hike' on the rear window of a taxi that pulled over to show solidarity with protestors

It said that if the blockades continued, it could interrupt operations at airports in Chihuahua and Baja California.

The country's industrial chamber, known as Concamin, said that 'impeding production and commerce is not the best way to handle the increase in fuel prices.'