Students occupy university in Mexico City

Photo: Nevin Siders

The main campus of the National University of Education Sciences (UPN) in Mexico City has been occupied by students who receive the National Grant for Higher Education (Pronabes). They took this drastic action because bread was literally ripped from their mouths. Payments for the Pronabes grant stopped.

So they took over the campus in protest on the evening of June 28. As of the following evening, they were still on a vigil, having held a negotiating session at midday. A rent-a-cop private security force has been out on the sidewalk.

The photo shows the peaceful nature of the occupation. The students are organizing to reach out for solidarity beyond the university community’s faculty and administrative staff. Several of their banners are in an Indigenous language.

Nearly all UPN students are their family’s first generation to strive for higher education, and the great majority receive the Pronabes grant.

The students communicate via Facebook.