We went to eat, and then strolled down to the zocalo, where we came across this:
Apparently a new rector was put in place at this school, and based on the reasons why, and the history of this area, instead of complaining about it in the break room, the teachers and students took the building by force. This had just happened as soon as we showed up. Soon after,(not unlike anywhere else, especially the US right now), cops in riot gear showed up. They had done multiple banner drops, and had many people, at least one of which was brandishing a car mounted sized megaphone, loudly declaring their demands.
It deals with the uprising, and the amount of educators involved in its support. The government is now attempting to systematically put their own supporters in key positions in places like the educational system. It is the slow, and deliberate undoing of a revolt that is not being taken lightly by the people here (one woman was in tears, screaming through the bars of a window from the taken school, down to the media about the seriousness of the situation.):
At one point the police, at this point only armed with teargas, rushed the crowd, but suddenly the protesters ran around to the rear of the building, where the initial crowd followed:
Official representatives of the action, met a crowd of, supporters, onlookers, media, and police, through the rear door of the school to give more statements and explanations. Eventually, several people (maybe organizers, maybe government supporters), left the building to a chorus of cheers:
There was a briefly tense moment when reinforcements, toting machine guns, showed up, and looked as though they were ready to take care of the crowd:
However, soon the entire group, riot police and all, filed back to the front of the building, where students came out to give further speeches. You could see through the door that the protesters had wrecked the interior, and nearly torn all the doors off of the hinges:
Despite all of this, the action appeared to end in a somewhat relaxed standoff. And as we left the scene, no police had taken any action, and it appeared as though the people inside were able to move freely through the crowd. I am not sure any real arrests were made.
Most of the Spanish was too loud and frantic for me to comprehend any more than the basics of the situation. The internet access I have right now is very weak, and fragile. I have a short video that I will upload as soon as I can grab a better connection. I will also put up a few more pictures, and see if I can get any official information in English.
La lucha sigue.......
*To anyone who would like to use any of this media for their own reports, please feel free*
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