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 News from Around the Americas | August 2007 
Teacher Protest Shuts Down Border for a Time
 Steve Schmidt, Karen Kucher & Anna Cearley - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| | Mexican police officers in riot gear line up between the protesting teachers and the international border. (Yvette de la Garza/SignOnSanDiego) |
San Diego – Traffic is back to normal at the border crossings after a teachers union demonstration in Tijuana led to highway closures between San Diego and Tijuana for several hours Friday.
All southbound lanes on Interstates 5 and 805, south of state Route 905, were closed and northbound traffic was shut down in Mexico.
Traffic in both directions was flowing again by about 1 p.m., according to Tijuana police.
“Everything is open,” California Highway Patrol Officer Rob Sanchez said about 1:45 p.m. “The speeds down to the border look OK.”
Hundreds of schoolteachers – chanting and singing protest songs – staged union demonstrations near the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa ports of entry, rallying against changes in the Mexican government's employee pension plans.
Sanchez said southbound lanes were closed because Mexican government officials shut the border to vehicle traffic. In order to avoid a bottleneck at the U.S. port of entry, U.S. officials closed the U.S. traffic lanes and detoured drivers.
Southbound I-5 traffic was routed east to state Route 905 and north on I-805, the CHP said. Vehicles on southbound I-805 were directed west on Route 905 and then north on I-5.
In San Ysidro, it was possible to cross the border by foot, and the San Diego Trolley continued to run trains to the area.
Sanchez said truck traffic heading into the United States at the Otay Mesa processing facility was not affected. He said the Tecate border crossing remained open.
Victor Manuel Zatarain, Tijuana's police chief, estimated that about 1,000 teachers union demonstrators were near the San Ysidro border crossing and 500 at Otay Mesa.
Early morning Tijuana radio reports described the normally congested San Ysidro crossing as virtually empty, as commuters and other crossers stayed away.
On the north side of the border, San Ysidro Chamber of Commerce executive director Jason Wells said streets normally bustling with shoppers from Mexico were unusually quiet.
“It's not quite deserted, but traffic is greatly diminished,” Wells said. “It's not quite a ghost town yet, but it certainly is low.” An average of about 150,000 people a day cross at the San Ysidro port of entry.
In June, thousands of protesting teachers from Mexico shut down north- and southbound traffic at San Ysidro for several hours. |
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