SAN DIEGO -- A group of several hundred protesters has blockaded all northbound traffic coming from Tijuana to the U.S. at San Ysidro.
Sometime before 1 p.m., demonstrator who had been gathering on the Mexican side of the port of entry spread out across the traffic lanes and halted cars heading to the U.S. Several hundred yards south of the port of entry, other protesters set up other blockades using vehicles.
A large contingent of Mexican police in riot gear that as deployed near the port of entry did nothing to prevent the protesters from closing the border, although they did open the line to let several cars and trucks through. Tijuana police reportedly arrested at least three people for hitting cars as drivers tried to cross the border.
Federal officials in San Diego said that no vehicle traffic was passing through the San Ysidro Port of Entry and that chains had been placed at the head of all vehicle lanes.
About 50,000 vehicles pass through the port on a typical day
Pedestrian traffic was being allowed through the port as normal, federal officials said.
There were no reports of blockades at the Otay Mesa or Tecate ports of entry.
Copyright 2006 by NBCSandiego.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
A large contingent of Mexican police in riot gear that as deployed near the port of entry did nothing to prevent the protesters from closing the border, although they did open the line to let several cars and trucks through. Tijuana police reportedly arrested at least three people for hitting cars as drivers tried to cross the border.
They're in riot gear.
excellent - let's hope they keep it up
That's just a normal day, isn't it? Whenever I've had to sit on the Mexico side for hours, the Mexicans have always tried to ram my (usually rent) car even when we're just inching ahead - they try to hit it, so I'll back off and let them move ahead, then another one jumps in and does the same thing.
They don't care about their cars and I'll have to pay a fortune if anything happens to mine. One of the border agents told me one time I was lucky to be alive and to still have the rent car, especially in one piece, after just 4 hours of shopping right there in the gringo souvenir district. Never, ever again.