The Empty Plaza

As I wrote yesterday, the "Grito de Independencia" (Cry of Independence) was going to be held last night, the eve of Mexican Independence Day, as always.  However the Mexico City's main plaza, the Zócalo, usually jammed with more than 100,000 spectators, was going to be empty.  Alejandro told me, and I also heard on the news, that police had blocked all streets leading into the Zócalo.  

In the late afternoon and again in the evening I checked out the webcam of the empty plaza.

The long building illuminated in the national colors of green, white and red is the National Palace.  The President comes out on the central balcony at 11:00 P.M. on September 15th and proclaims the "Grito"...  "Viva la Independencia" and "long live" a list of the heroes of the War of Independence from Spain.  President López Obrador added a bunch of other "vivas!" such as "Long live the indigenous communities!",  "Long live universal brotherhood!" and ending with "Long live hope in the future!"

I was going to watch the "Grito" which was televised here on Univisión, but I was tired and I went to bed.

Here are a few photos that I found this morning on the website of the Mexico City newspaper "Milenio"...

The buildings around the plaza were decorated with lights, including portraits of the heroes of the War of Independence.

After the "Grito" the President rings the bell which was rung in 1810 by the village priest Miguel Hidalgo to begin the rebellion against Spain.  In the late 1800s the bell was transported from the parish church of the town of Dolores to Mexico City, where it was hung above the Presidential balcony.

The festivities always end with fireworks, although this year the pyrotechnics were shot off from the empty Zócalo.