ABSTRACT
Public outcry against the use of police or military force on students was at a fever pitch, and for several years students tried to capitalize on the situation, staging massive demonstrations and directly challenging the government. The ill-conceived strategy cost the mayor and the police chief their jobs and subsequent Mexico City officials chose to ignore student demonstrations or to disperse them with less violence. At the University of Rhodesia, for example, students demonstrating for political reforms in 1973 were dispersed by police, but they regrouped and nevertheless continued their efforts, despite violent police suppression. Police met the demonstrators with unrestrained violence, killing many and wounding hundreds. Police cracked down on the universities and violently suppressed public dissension. In the face of a popular uprising, the government proclaimed martial law and sent troops and tanks into city streets to suppress the demonstrations; soldiers opened fire upon the crowds, killing thousands of people.
