MEXICO CITY: More than 20 policemen and an unknown number of students were injured as violence flared up again in Mexico City on Saturday [Sept 21], increasing fears of major trouble here before or even during the Olympic games — now only 20 days away.

The trouble started when police tried to retrieve some buses seized by the students. It soon degenerated into a pitched battle between some 2,500 police and 500 students armed with Molotov cocktails and iron bars. The incident which involved the notorious “Granaderos” riot police, the main target of student demonstrations throughout the summer because of its brutality, occurred close to a technical school in the Nonoalco district, spreading to the Foreign Ministry building, where a fire was started which firemen put out.

The students have hardened their attitude following the occupation by the Army on Wednesday night of the campus of the autonomous university. Violent clashes of Friday night between students and the “Granaderos”, sparked by the pre-dawn incident in which the Colegio De Mexico — empty since students went on strike almost two months ago — was machine gunned from a speeding car. Observers said the heavy army and police guard on the University stadium, where the main Olympic athletic events and the inauguration and final ceremonies will take place was decided for “security reasons”.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2018