Tragedy overshadows Independence Day

       Mexicans celebrated their Independence Day under heavy police surveillance on Tuesday and with a sombre memorial for eight revellers killed last year in a shocking grenade attack on the public by drug traffickers.
       Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu placed flowers in the plaza in the colonial city of Morelia, where 106 people were also wounded in the first deliberate attack on civilians by cartels.Morelia is the state capital of President Felipe Calderon's home state of Michoacan, where the La Familia drug gang is based.
       The attack rocked the nation by targeting a cherished tradition - one that brings millions of Mexicans together in public plazas each year to celebrate the 1810 start of Mexico's 10-year war of independence from Spain.
       The Guatemalan peace activist urged people to attend Tuesday night's festivities and not fall into "a culture of fear".
       "We can't lose our right to be out on the streets," said Ms Menchu, an Indian rights activist whose family was killed during the Guatemalan civil war.
       Michoacan Governor Leonel Godoy said this year's celebrations would be overshadowed by last year's killings.
       Snipers took positions on roofs of centuries-old buildings around Morelia's picturesque plaza on Tuesday. Hundreds of jubilant revellers still turned out, but the crowd was notably thinner than in past years. The square was missing vendors who ordinarily hawk tamales,Mexican flags and noisemakers.
       Last year, the attack came during the traditional grito , or shout of independence shortly before midnight. Mr Godoy had just finished yelling "Viva Mexico!"from a balcony, when two grenades exploded simultaneously in the crowd,blocks apart. He was unharmed.
       The government arrested three men who said they belong to the Zetas, a group of hit men tied to the Gulf cartel.Relatives of the suspects say the men were kidnapped and tortured into confessing. Mr Godoy delivered the grito without incident on Tuesday.
       In Mexico City, police checked revellers with hand-held metal detectors before letting them into the streets sur-rounding the main plaza, called the Zocalo. Police said more than 10,000 officers were deployed in the square.
       Even so, tens of thousands of raucous celebrants joyfully watched Mr Calderon emerge onto the National Palace balcony and shout "Viva Mexico!" three times,waving a Mexican flag.
       The crowd echoed his cries then cheered as they watched fireworks lighting up the night sky.
       Other cities took precautions as well.In Ciudad Juarez, Mexico's deadliest city,hundreds of police and soldiers patrolled near festivities and checked people randomly.