More than 300 demonstrators streamed into the ancient ruins of Teotihuacan on Sunday and climbed part way up the towering Pyramid of the Sun, the latest in a string of protests against the construction of a Wal-Mart-owned store nearby.
Lugging huge banners and waving signs decrying Wal-Mart and other international corporations, protesters who had chosen to stay out of the national park during previous demonstrations surprised tourists and visitors by setting up near the ruins' tallest pyramid.
PHOTO: EPA
Many on-hand wore traditional Azteca headdresses and danced to a steady drum beat. Others handed out fliers, sang songs, chanted, or hung banners from trees, brush and smaller ruin structures.
After about half an hour of protesting on the ground, a steady stream of demonstrators began slowly climbing the Sun Pyramid's stone steps. They stopped at the first platform, however, because the pyramid's narrow summit was too small to accommodate them all.
Once there, they performed a traditional ceremony before climbing back down.
The 2,000-year-old ruins, in a valley 40km northeast of downtown Mexico City, were built by a little-known culture whose very name has been lost, and were abandoned hundreds of years before the Spaniards arrived.
Construction of the store, which will bear the name of a Mexican subsidiary of Wal-Mart Stores Inc, is nearing completion and those opposed to it have promised to organize larger and larger demonstrations as the date it will open approaches.
It will be almost 1.6km from the national park.
The store site can be seen from the top of the Pyramid of the Sun and Pyramid of the Moon, as well as from the summits of most of Teotihuacan's tallest structures. But so can other commercial developments built in the community nearby.
Many local residents support the idea of a discount-retailer in the area, saying it will create jobs and bring lower prices.
Opponents appear to have exhausted legal challenges to the store, but that hasn't slowed the campaign against it. They say they do not object to having such a store in the area, but said it should be built further from the spectacular ruins.
Earlier this month, the state of Mexico and the Paris-based International Council on Monuments and Sites said they had determined that the store would cause no damage.
The council -- an oversight body which helps monitor UN World Heritage Sites -- said measures already taken meant that the store wouldn't ruin the view from the top of the pyramids.
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