Students protesting Olympic spending were corralled by the army, which killed or wounded hundreds
In the Plaza of Three Cultures in Tlatelolco students were protesting the Mexican governments use of funds for the Olympics rather than for social programmes and calling for greater civil and democratic rights; they were surrounded by the army with 5000 soldiers and 200 tankettes. More than 200 of the students and other civilians were killed and over a thousand injured. These protests followed months of increasing unrest and of marches by an estimated 500,000 protesting increased economic and political suppression. There was a mascot for 1968 Winter Olympics - a cartoon named Schuss - but official mascots were not used until the 1972 Summer Olympics; the torchbearer, Queta Basilio, was not killed but lit the cauldron, and became the first woman to do so; a lethal collapse in one of the stadia was not part of the leadup.
