Protesters blockaded a number of key roads from Mexico City earlier today, affecting traffic leaving for the Semana Santa (Easter) holidays on the Mexico-Querétaro, Mexico-Pachuca, and Toluca-Atlacomulco highways.
The organization had originally said that the blockades would be canceled, but traffic reports this morning showed that the action had gone ahead at the last minute.
The protesters are from the Organization of Merchants, Carriers and Civil Associations of México state. Members are concerned about working rights and extortion by local police.
“What we ask for is justice, that they take care of us as carriers, that our rights not be trampled on,” said one.
According to federal highways agency Capufe, the protesters gathered at kilometer 20 of the Mexico-Cuernavaca highway, the El Dorado toll booth on the Toluca-Atlacomulco highway, and at the Tepotzotlán toll booth on the Mexico-Querétaro highway. Authorities said that traffic on at least two lanes of the Mexico-Queretaro highway was flowing freely as of Friday morning.
Protesters told the newspaper El Universal that they were prepared to open up access to all the roads they had blocked, and they claimed that it was only through the blockades that they got the attention of authorities.
It is believed that the blockades will be fully dismantled before the end of the day, though there are delays as a result of the protests. Police say they are working to resolve the dispute.
With reports from El Universal and Infobae
