The Communist Party of Mexico (PCM) reported on 2 October that police in Mexico City had detained eight members of the party and its youth organisation, the Frente de la Juventud Comunista (FJC), shortly before the annual march commemorating the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre.
Communist Party and Youth of Mexico members detained before 2 October march
The eight militants were intercepted in the Historic Centre while preparing to travel to the Plaza de las Tres Culturas, where the main commemorative mobilisation was due to begin. The party said the detainees were beaten and that police confiscated flags, megaphones and banners intended for the demonstration. Miguel Uribe, a member of the PCM Political Bureau, and Ernesto Santrich, political secretary of the FJC, were among those detained, along with FJC members Agatha, Esteban, Aarón and Raymundo.
The FJC stated that the police intervention occurred outside a PCM party premises in the Historic Centre. It described the incident as an attack specifically directed against the Communist Party and Communist Youth.
The incident occurred shortly before the main 2 October march, which began at the Plaza de las Tres Culturas and proceeded towards the Zócalo. The mobilisation brought together students from institutions including UNAM, IPN and ENAH, together with social organisations and former members of the 1968 student movement. Organisers called for renewed criminal proceedings against those responsible for the 1968 massacre, with the relevant judicial processes having been stalled since 2009.
According to various reports, at least some of the PCM members were subsequently released.
The 2 October march
The main mobilisation in Mexico City marked the 58th anniversary of the 2 October 1968 Tlatelolco massacre. It brought together students, former participants in the 1968 movement, rural teacher-training students, trade-union and social organisations, as well as relatives of the 43 Ayotzinapa students who disappeared in 2014. Students from UNAM, IPN and ENAH were among the principal contingents. The Communist Youth Front of Mexico also took part in the march.
The march began at approximately 4 p.m. at the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Tlatelolco and proceeded through Ricardo Flores Magón, Eje Central Lázaro Cárdenas and 5 de Mayo towards the Zócalo, where the central rally was held in front of the National Palace. The march itself took a little over an hour to reach the Zócalo.
According to reports, approximately 8,000 people participated. The principal slogans included “2 de octubre, castigo a los asesinos” (“2 October, punishment for the killers”), “Porque vivos se los llevaron, vivos los queremos” (“They were taken alive, we want them back alive”) and the traditional “Ni perdón ni olvido” (“Neither forgiveness nor forgetting”).