Demonstrations in U.S. against Mexican Government's Violent Attacks on Teachers

There were demonstrations yesterday at Mexican Consuls in several American cities protesting the Mexican government’s violent repression of teacher protests in Oaxaca. Many of the protests also criticized the U.S. government for supply the Mexican government with military equipment being used in military and police actions against the teachers.

There were protests in New York, Chicago, Houston, and Los Angeles among other cities. The one pictured here, which grew to a couple of hundred people, took place in Manhattan at the Mexican Consul.

As of Tuesday, June 21, the National Coordinating Committee (la CNTE), an opposition group within the Mexican Teachers Union, reported that between eight and ten civilians killed (mostly supporters of the teachers), with scores injured and perhaps 22 disappeared. Government sources placed the death toll at eight or ten and the number of detained at 23. More than 100 people were injured, including 56 police and 53 civilians, according to official sources cited in the Mexican press. The government has arrested or threatened to arrest several leaders of Local 22 of the Mexican Teachers Union in Oaxaca led by la CNTE.

In New York City members of the City University of New York’s Professional Staff Congress (PSC) International Committee joined many members of the Mexican community and various other organizations and individuals in the protest at the Mexican Consul in Manhattan.