October 2 is a sad, angry, volatile day here. On Oct. 2, 1968 (ten days before the Summer Olympcis in Mexico City) students and union workers had organized a demonstration in Tlaltelolco at the Plaza de las Tres Culturas, demanding reforms including autonomy for the huge university. Exits to the plaza were sealed off and police and military opened fire on the demonstrators, killing many. Reports vary on how many: officially, 30; unofficially, hundreds, maybe a thousand or more. On October 2, most students don't go to classes at all; at 4:00 they organize and walk (sometimes run) from the Casco de Santo Tomás, where the Politécnico is, and from Tlaltelolco through the city into the Zócalo. Police, shoulder-to-shoulder, line the sidewalks, helicopters patrol, granaderos - police in riot gear - are nearby in dark gray buses. By 5:30 the demonstration had reached our area; it probably ended around 6 in the Zocalo. Amid shouts of "Libertad", banners demanding justice, and posters of Che, people with spray paint were busy "decorating" news stands and walls with slogans and symbols, while police looked on without responding.
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