Demonstrators protesting changes to Mexico's pension laws briefly blocked traffic in both directions at the nation's busiest border crossing Wednesday, officials said.
Marchers on the Mexican side blocked traffic from San Diego into Tijuana, Mexico, between 1 and 2 p.m., causing a mile-long backup on California's Interstate 5, said California Highway Patrol Officer Larry Landeros.
The 24 vehicle lanes at San Diego's San Ysidro crossing were also briefly blocked from the Mexican side. Mexican authorities diverted U.S.-bound motorists to the smaller Otay Mesa Port of Entry as a crowd of about 10,000 marchers wended its way toward the border around noon.
Wait times at the Otay Mesa crossing, about 10 miles east of San Ysidro, grew to two hours, said Customs and Border Protection spokesman Vince Bond.
An average of about 30,000 pedestrians, 35,000 vehicles and 250 buses enter the U.S. each day at San Ysidro, making it the nation's busiest crossing by far.
Demonstrators, many of them teachers, protested a Mexican law passed earlier this year that raises the retirement age for workers to 60 from 50 and introduces individual retirement savings accounts for government workers. Investors have welcomed the measure, which was the first major reform approved under conservative President Felipe Calderon.
