Detained while occupying Tijuana

I'M WRITING this letter after being released from jail about an hour ago with 10 other compañeros from Occupy Tijuana (Ocupemos Tijuana). We spent a couple of hours in jail accused of littering and sleeping in a public space. I wasn't even sleeping when the police arrived.

Around 2 a.m., I was standing watch for police presence while having a conversation with a fellow occupier. Most of the occupiers were asleep when around 15 police vehicles arrived on location to detain the occupiers.

Close to 2 a.m., a group of about 15 federal, state, and municipal police vehicles swiftly arrived and arrested all of the 26 protesters. I was the first one to be handcuffed. There were 27 occupiers in all, including an infant who was violently taken from his mother by police agents while they detained her. The raid was extremely well-organized, as the police patrolled the area often.

The infant was taken under the agents' "protection" until being reunited with his mother at the police station. The six women occupiers were freed earlier than the men. Ten of the men were able to pay the fine and were released. Ten of us had to wait to hear the judge's decision, although by then, some cops were telling us that we would get released on that same day, under the condition that we performed some basic chores at the jail.

The time that the judge determined for us to be released was 3 p.m., but thanks to the intervention of representatives from the National Commission for Human Rights (CNDH) and a solidarity group from other occupiers, we were able to explain our case and the CNDH intervened for us before the judge.

We were released around 1:30 p.m., although the CNDH and the authorities asked us to not disclose any information to the press until after 3 p.m., our supposed release time.

Video of the raid is available online. Try to see how many state and federal trucks you can count.
Jorge Perez, from the Internet