On June 10, 1971, the day of the Corpus Christi festival, over 120 student protesters were shot by "los Halcones," a shock group trained by the Federal Security Directorate and the CIA.
Mexico Commemorates 45 Years Since ‘Halconazo’ Student Massacre
Over 120 people died in the massacre.
Pictures
Activists, students and survivors of the June 10, 1971, Halconazo student massacre carried out a march in commemoration and memory of the youth killed.teleSUR / Clayton Conn
Behind the members of the Comite 68 are current students of the National Polytecnic Institute, IPN. In 1971, 120 students from IPN were killed in the state-sponsored Halconazo massacre, while they were holding a march.teleSUR / Clayton Conn
Activists, students and survivors of the June 10, 1971, Halconazo student massacre carried out a march in commemoration and memory of the youth killed.teleSUR / Clayton Conn
Many make the parallel of the 2014 forced disappearance of the Ayotzinapa students with the 1968 and 1971 student massacres.teleSUR / Clayton Conn
Many argue that state-sponsored violence and the criminalization toward activists and student groups continues in Mexico.teleSUR / Clayton Conn
The thousands who participated in the Friday march carried signs demanding justice in the case of the disappeared 43 Ayotzinapa students.teleSUR / Clayton Conn
One of the demands of this years march is also an end to the militarization of Mexico under the guise of the so-called drug war.teleSUR / Clayton Conn
Other demands were present as well. Farm worker organizations, such as the People’s Front in Defense of the Land demand an end to state-private mega-projects and infrastructure projects that forces indigenous and campesinos from their lands. They argue that these projects lead to displacement and the disintegration of the country’s social fabric.teleSUR / Clayton Conn
Also participating in the march were thousands of dissident public school teachers affiliated with the National Coordinator of Education Workers, CNTE, for over three years the CNTE has fought against an education reform that they argue threatens their labor rights and public education as a whole.teleSUR / Clayton Conn
The slogan “It was the state” has now become one of the most common phrases in street demonstrations in Mexico.teleSUR / Clayton Conn