The protest began earlier today at 3PM with at least 20 adherents of the EZLN's la otra campaña in front of the Mexican consulate located at India St. and Cedar in downtown San Diego. The protesters arrived to show support and solidarity for a group of flower producers in the town of Atenco, who have been subjected to repeated intimidation, injury, and murder, after trying to continue operating in a marketplace that has been sold to become a Wal-Mart. The EZLN issued a red alert calling on all supporters to take action and let the Mexican government know the we support the workers. According to the san diego indymedia article,
PROTEST AT THE MEXICAN CONSULATE, San Diego (see
http://sandiego.indymedia.org/en/2006/05/115596.shtml ) "The leadership of the Atenco movement has been brutally beaten and incarcerated along with hundreds of their supporters, several have been killed."
Chants at the protest included "ni el PRI, ni el PAN, ni el P-R-D! l@s obrer@s al poder!", "Ramona vive (vive), la lucha sigue (sigue)", and "political prisoners, freedom [or free them] now!" People carried EZLN flags, held banners, and taped signs to the building. There were two djimbes being played, drumsticks were hitting anything that made noise, and people were using their hands to make noise on the newstands and to clap. The chants and jam session went on for about two hours. Flyers were passed out for tomorrow's event...
The information on the flyer says in spanish:
!gran marcha estudiantil!
desde el parque chicano hasta el parque benito juarez en el centro a las 16:00hrs
viernes, cinco de mayo del 2006
traigan sus banderas y orgullo mexicanos
!no somos ni latino/hispanos ni illegales!
!somos mexicanas/os y es nuestra tierra!
translated it says:
Mass student march
from chicano park to benito juarez park in dowontwon at 4PM
friday May 5, 2006
bring you mexican flags and pride
we are not (n)either latinos/hispanos (n)or illegales
we are mexicans and this is our land