The annual march to commemorate the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre of protesting students in Mexico’s capital has been eclipsed by demands to bring an end to Israel’s nearly two-year-long genocidal war in Gaza.
Protesters marched on Thursday from the Tlatelolco plaza – where 57 years ago, Mexican troops attacked students demanding an end to Mexico’s militarisation and greater freedoms, leaving a death toll believed to be in the hundreds – to the capital’s central plaza.
But this year, the October 2 March was packed with Palestinian flags and signs demanding an end to Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Israel has killed more than 66,000 Palestinians and injured at least 168,000 others since October 7, 2023.
The march comes after Israel threatened Gaza City’s remaining residents to leave or face the “full force” of its ground and aerial assault, with Defence Minister Israel Katz saying that anyone who stayed would be considered “terrorists and terror supporters”.
The continuous bombardment of Gaza City has razed the territory’s largest urban centre, killing dozens of people daily, destroying numerous residential buildings and schools, and forcing tens of thousands of Palestinians to flee to an unknown fate to the south, often while being attacked en route.
“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,” Edgar Lopez, a 23-year-old economics student, who marched with a Palestinian flag on his back, told The Associated Press news agency.
While much of the march was peaceful, some groups vandalised storefronts and threw objects, including Molotov cocktails, at the hundreds of police guarding the National Palace.
Mexico City officials estimated the march drew 10,000 people, and authorities said about 350 were masked and acting aggressively.
Journalists with the AP saw at least three other journalists attacked by police and protesters, and a police officer cornered and attacked by protesters.
Local media reported at least six police officers were injured, but authorities did not immediately confirm that number.
Meanwhile, a smaller spontaneous protest had broken out in the capital on Wednesday night after Israel detained members of the Global Sumud Flotilla carrying a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid as they attempted to end the naval blockade Israel has imposed on Gaza since 2009.
Among those detained were six Mexicans.
Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said earlier on Thursday that her administration had demanded their immediate repatriation. Mexico is one of dozens of countries to have recognised the State of Palestine.
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