The [1968] Games was awarded to Mexico but, due to financial constraints and the general condition of the country’s economy, a much less ambitious approach was taken. Existing facilities were utilized and, because they were scattered in various parts of the city, the public transport system was placed under tremendous strain. The main investment was in the Olympic Village consisting of 24 purpose-built, multi-storey buildings.

Nevertheless, ordinary Mexicans questioned the investment required to stage the Games which they saw as an unnecessary extravagance when there were severe social problems to be solved with many people living in conditions of poverty and poor housing. The opposition prior to the event resulted in violent clashes between protesting students and units from the police and army.

From: Urban development through hosting international events: a history of the Olympic Games, Brian Chalkley and Stephen Essex, 1999

In the run-up to the Games, Mexico had been caught up in the wave of social and political unrest that had erupted in other parts of the world throughout 1968. But Robert Trevor says the people he first met were just excited about the sports events. (Mr Trevor, then aged 34, was the sports editor of the London Evening News and was in the Mexican capital to report on his third Olympics. ) "The atmosphere was one of pleasure at having the Olympic Games. The Mexicans were proud of their Olympics. They wanted them to go off as well as possible,"

He heard that a political demonstration was planned for the evening of 2 October in Tlatelolco Square, or Plaza de las Tres Culturas. He went along to see if there would be a story in it. "There was a big crowd there, about 3,000," he says, most of them young students and union activists. "To begin with it was very peaceful and quiet. Everyone was listening to the speeches calling for the resignation of President Diaz Ordaz and for the government to rule according to the Mexican constitution. "There were calls for better housing, better education, better food."

But then shots were fired from nearby rooftops. "Before people could grasp what was happening, helicopters arrived, helicopter gunships that started firing down on the crowd," he says. An American journalist from the UPI news agency standing next to Mr Trevor suddenly found himself covered in other people's blood.

"When the helicopters opened fire and flares were dropped to light up the square, people were absolutely terrified," Mr Trevor recalls. The crowd began darting down side-streets to try to escape. "As we ran down the streets we were met by Mexican soldiers in full battle order - steel helmets, rifles - and backed by armoured cars. "People were being shot at from the front, by the foot soldiers, and from behind by the helicopter gunships, so they were trapped. It was terrible, there was no escape."

Mr Trevor managed to run down a street that eventually took him back to Mexico City's main thoroughfare, Paseo de la Reforma. "There it was unbelievable because the restaurants were full, people were coming out of cinemas, people were walking up and down the boulevard. Nobody knew what was happening 800m (2,600ft) away. It was unreal."

Mr Trevor headed to a hotel where the International Olympic Committee had its headquarters and met up with other foreign journalists. Some of them said they had been escorted from the square by security forces before the shooting happened and held at gunpoint in nearby houses until it was all over, so they did not see anything.

Robert Trevor filed his report which was on the front page of the London Evening News the next day. "I published the story of what I had seen and heard. I also reported the fact that the police commissioner in Mexico City, Luis Cueto, had held a press conference claiming that only 25 people had been killed, including seven policemen. I knew this wasn't true because I had seen more people than that being shot."

In fact, the number of victims has remained shrouded in mystery and controversy. In the days afterwards, the government spoke of some 30 victims, human rights groups and foreign journalists have put the number of dead at around 300. The names of many of the victims or what happened to their bodies remain unknown.

A week after the killings, the media's attention had switched to the opening ceremony of the Olympics. "We were all there to cover the games, really," Mr Trevor says.

'The most terrifying night of my life', Interview with Robert Trevor, BBC News

Despite continuous efforts by victims, relatives and participants in the student movement to establish the truth of what occurred that night, the full facts have never been established and those responsible have not been held to account.

'The failure of the Mexican government to establish the truth of what happened on the night of 2 October 1968 has left a deep scar in Mexican society that can only be healed by full disclosure, bringing the perpetrators to justice, and providing reparations to the victims or their families.'

Amnesty International 's Deputy Americas Programme Director Kerrie Howard said:

"President Calderón's government has been all but silent on this dark chapter in Mexico's history. We challenge this administration to open all relevant archives and records, establish a new and independent inquiry, and lift the obstacles preventing those responsible for this horrific crime being brought to justice.'

More at: Amnesty International

1968. There was never a year when the worlds of sports and politics collided so breathlessly, without mercy or respite. It was the year Muhammad Ali, stripped of his heavyweight title for resisting the draft, spoke on 200 college campuses and asked the question, 'Can they take my title without me being whupped?' ...It was the year the Detroit Tigers won the World Series, playing in a city that carried the specter of insurrection with riots in the hood, snipers on the roofs, wildcat strikes in the auto plants, and Martha and the Vandellas' "Dancing in the Streets"
ringing throughout the projects.

And most famously, it was the year that Tommie Smith and John Carlos took the 200-meter medal stand at the Mexico City Olympics to raise their black gloved fists in a demonstration of pride, power, and politics. Smith and Carlos were part of the Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR) and they made their stand because of what was happening outside the stadium: the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King; the growth of the Black Panthers, the May strikes in France, and most recently in their thoughts, the slaughter of hundreds in the country where they were being feted with gold.

Redeeming the Olympic Martyrs of 1968, September 28 2005, Dave Zirin