Vigil held for murdered Mexican teacher unionists

June 28, 2016
Issue 
Signs at the vigil
Signs at the vigil. Photo: Dima Al-Msodny

On June 25 a vigil was held outside the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne to pay tribute to the Mexican teachers who were murdered by police during protests organised by the CNTE teachers' union in Oaxaca last week.

The teachers have been rallying against the privatisation of education by the government of Enrique Peña Nieto and for democratic reform in the education system.

There has been increasing political violence in Mexico, including 43 student-teacher activists who were forcibly disappeared by the Mexican State, on September 26, 2014 in the city of Iguala, in the state of Guerrero.

Event organiser Lulu Garcia said: “In the cities, teachers teach classes of up to 40 students, sometimes with no power, no internet and with very limited resources, but because they raise their voices they are repressed, incarcerated, killed”.

Activists in Mexico have put a call for protests around the world in support of Oaxaca.

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