High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Tlatelolco massacre, also known as The Night of Tlatelolco (from a book title by the Mexican writer Elena Poniatowska), was a government massacre of student and civilian protesters and bystanders that took place during the afternoon and night of October 2, 1968, in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in the Tlatelolco section of Mexico City. It happened ten days before the 1968 Summer Olympics celebrations in Mexico City. While at the time, government propaganda and official media in Mexico claimed that government forces had been provoked by protesters shooting at them, much later official documents were found showing that the snipers had in fact been members of the Presidential Guard. The death toll remains controversial: official government estimates place the deathtoll at 30, while some estimates place it in the thousands. Most sources, however, report between 200 and 300 deaths. The exact number of people arrested is also disputed, but commonly estimated at over 1,000.