Key points
- Protest shifts focus to Gaza crisis
- Palestinian flags and solidarity fill streets
- Mexico demands release of detained nationals
MEXICO CITY: The annual march held to commemorate the 1968 massacre of student protesters in Mexico City was overshadowed on Thursday by calls to end the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza.
The 2nd October march, which is traditionally used not only to remember the massacre but also to draw attention to the tens of thousands of missing people in Mexico and ongoing abuses of power, was this year marked by Palestinian flags and placards demanding an end to Israel’s military actions in Gaza, reports AP News.
“We feel empathy not only for ours, for those our grandparents died for, but for all men and women around the world who are suffering what at one time we suffered,” said Edgar López, a 23-year-old economics student, who took part in the march with a Palestinian flag draped over his back.
Protesters walked from the Tlatelolco plaza – where in 1968 Mexican troops opened fire on students calling for demilitarisation and greater freedoms, killing an unknown number believed to be in the hundreds – to the capital’s main square.
Spontaneous protest
Although much of the demonstration remained peaceful, some groups vandalised shopfronts and hurled objects, including Molotov cocktails, at the hundreds of police officers guarding the National Palace.
Officials in Mexico City estimated that around 10,000 people took part in the march. Authorities reported that roughly 350 participants were masked and behaving aggressively.
Local media outlets reported that at least six police officers were injured, though this figure was not immediately confirmed by authorities.
A smaller, spontaneous protest had occurred in the capital the night before, following the detention by Israel of individuals aboard a flotilla delivering humanitarian aid. Six of those detained were Mexican nationals.
Earlier on Thursday, President Claudia Sheinbaum stated that her administration had formally demanded the immediate repatriation of the detained Mexicans.
