Mexico City, Plaza de las tres culturas: The Tlatelolco massacre took place on October 2, 1968 in the Tlatelolco district of Mexico City. Although there had been several large scale student protests earlier in the year, political unrest came to a head as nearly 15,000 students gathered at the Plaza de Las Tres Culturas. Army and police forces entered the plaza in the late afternoon and opened fire on the demonstrators, killing hundreds. Although the Mexican government claimed that the students fired first, the event is generally viewed as a massacre. Witnesses reported that the army also entered houses on the plaza, shooting inhabitants and innocent bystanders. The bodies were later removed in garbage trucks. A memorial is planned for the site, which already attracts substantial numbers of tourists.
