- Title: Mexicans commemorate 50th anniversary of Tlatelolco student massacre
- Date: 2nd October 2018
- Summary: GENERAL VIEW OF SQUARE AND FLAG BEING FLOWN AT HALF-MAST GRAFFITI ON WALL FEATURING FORMER PRESIDENT GUSTAVO DIAZ ORDAZ, WHO WAS IN POWER DURING THE 1968 MASSACRE OF LEFTIST STUDENTS GENERAL VIEW OF TLATELOLCO SQUARE WOMAN HOLDING LIT CANDLE GENERAL VIEW OF PEOPLE GATHERED IN SQUARE PLAQUE TO MARK 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF TLATELOLCO STUDENT MASSACRE MEXICAN PRESIDENT-ELECT ANDRES MANUEL LOPEZ OBRADOR TALKING TO WOMAN LOPEZ OBRADOR SURROUNDED BY FLOWER WREATHS LEFT FOR VICTIMS PEOPLE MAKING PEACE SIGN LOPEZ OBRADOR NEXT TO FLOWER WREATH PEOPLE MAKING PEACE SIGN (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MEXICAN PRESIDENT-ELECT ANDRES MANUEL LOPEZ OBRADOR, SAYING: "We guarantee that force will never be used again to resolve conflicts, differences, and social protests. That's the oath we make. To not make use of force, to not repress the people."
- Embargoed: 17th October 2018 00:48
- Keywords: Mexico Mexico City protest demonstration Tlateloloco massacre students 50th anniversary
- Location: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
- City: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
- Country: Mexico
- Topics: Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA00690DL0SJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: PROFANITY HEARD IN SHOT #36
Thousands of Mexicans took to the streets of the capital on Tuesday (October 2) to mark the 50th anniversary of the massacre of hundreds of student protesters on October 2, 1968 in Tlatelolco Square.
In 1968, security forces stormed a student rally in a square in Mexico City's Tlatelolco district, killing 30-40 people, according to officials, or as many as 300, according to rights activists and witnesses.
The killings took place just days before the Olympic Games in the capital, as the government tried to quell weeks of what it saw as embarrassing demonstrations by students demanding democratic reforms in authoritarian Mexico.
The march was led by the 1968 Student Movement as well as various student organisations from the UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico) and the IPN (National Polytechnic Institute).
Jose Luis Becerra, who was a member of the 1968 students' movement explained why he was demonstrating on Tuesday.
"We want the government to accept the truth, that this was genocide, that it was a problem of the state. The repression was such that in some way they wanted and they managed to stop us because the Olympics were fast approaching. That was truly the main reason. Diaz-Ordaz (Former President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz) did not want the Olympics to be stained by the movement (student protests)."
Mexican President-Elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Tuesday, vowed to never again use force to repress the "people."
"We guarantee that force will never be used again to resolve conflicts, differences, and social protests. That's the oath we make. To not make use of force, to not repress the people," he said.
Security forces and senior government officials from the Institutional Revolutionary Party, Mexico's current ruling party, crushed leftist student and guerrilla movements in a "dirty war" in the 1960s and 1970s. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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