2 October 1968: Student riots threaten Mexico Olympics

More than 25 people have been killed during a vicious gun battle in Mexico City just days before the Olympic Games are due to begin. Thousands of students had gathered for a meeting organised by the National Strike Council in La Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Tlatelolco to protest against the military occupation of the National Polytechnic Institute. The protesters, many of whom were women and children, had been planning to march through a working-class suburb of the city, but by early evening military personnel in armoured vehicles had surrounded the square. The Mexican government say "agitator groups" among the students began shooting at the crowds from buildings, which resulted in a 90-minute gun fight. General Marcelino Garcia Barragn, Mexico's defence minister said the army began firing into the crowd in self-defence after they found themselves targets of sniper fire from buildings in the square. But several eye-witnesses claim the army entered the square in seven or eight armoured tanks and began shooting first.