MEXICO CITY - A group of about two dozen demonstrators hung an anti-free trade banner off the top of Mexico City's Independence Monument on Wednesday, protesting U.S. corporations who they claim have "surrounded" the symbol of Mexican sovereignty.
The monument — a 150-foot (30 meter) column topped by a gilded angel on the city's main boulevard — is a favorite gathering place for leftist protesters, but is also surrounded by the office buildings of U.S. corporations.
The corners around the monument are occupied by the prominently-marked Mexico City headquarters of Ford Motor Co. and American Express Co. and a Sheraton hotel. The U.S. Embassy stands one-door down from the corner.
"Just as they have hemmed in this monument, they have hemmed in the entire country," shouted one protester, who refused to give his name. "They want to turn us into a gringo colony."
The protesters broke down a locked door to get to a stairway leading up the column, and tried to hang another banner from the top protesting U.S. military preparations against Iraq before police stopped them. The stairway has been closed to the public for years.
A scuffle ensued as protesters refused to leave, and then threw sand and rocks from a street construction project at police.
"They broke down a door. When they did that, it stopped being a peaceful protest," said Raymundo Collin, assistant city police chief. At least one protester was detained.
The U.S. companies congregated near the monument — built in 1906 to honor heroes of the 1810-1821 independence struggle — because it's some of the city's most prime real estate, and is a convenient place for office buildings.
But Mexicans have long remarked on the looming presence of America — the country that took half of Mexico's territory in the 1847-1848 Mexican-American war — around the country's foremost symbol of independence.
"The U.S. Embassy is near the monument," an old joke runs, "so the Americans can shoot down the angel of independence if she ever takes flight."
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