On Oct. 2, thousands of students and workers marched throughout Mexico to commemorate the 27th anniversary of the 1968 government massacre of students known as the Tlatelolco Massacre.
In Mexico City a demonstration of over 10,000 quickly turned into a militant protest against worsening economic conditions.
Since the December 1994 devaluation of the peso and the infusion of emergency money by the United States, almost 1.5 million Mexicans have lost their jobs. Prices have skyrocketed and living standards have plummeted.
Surrounded by riot police armed with clubs and tear gas, the protesters showed their disgust with the government by setting buses on fire and stoning the police. Twenty-seven years before the army had opened fire on students and killed over 300 of them.
This time the police arrested dozens of protesters, over 150 by some accounts.
"We are using this march to show we are fed up," said 28- year-old Raul Cofradia. (Reuter, Oct. 2) His father was one of those killed in the 1968 massacre.
Others who participated in the march this year included laid-off city bus drivers, students leading the struggle against budget cuts at the National Autonomous University and others opposed to the government's economic policy.
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