Organizers said it was also intended as a symbol of unity among Mexicans and of friendship and solidarity with the people of the United States.

It was Chihuahua Governor Javier Corral who issued the call for citizens to gather on the shores of the Río Bravo.

 “In the face of the intention of Donald Trump to build a wall we cannot bow down, because bowing down will mean things will go worse for us . . . .” the governor said before the event.

Today he said Mexicans, in the face of hostility, would reaffirm their bonds of friendship with the people of the U.S.

Corral expressed the belief that the majority of Americans don’t agree with what Trump is doing now that “paradoxically all he is doing contradicts the values of North American society and, of course, the spirit of the founders of the United States.”

Also among the speakers today was Senator Armando Ríos Piter, who said Trump’s wall was a lesson that all of Mexico’s problems, such as corruption, impunity and violence, must be resolved. The only way to do that, he said, was by “looking at each other in the eye to understand our mistakes and correct them.”

The mayor of El Paso, Texas, appeared to be the lone politician in attendance from the U.S. side of the border. Oscar Leeser called for unity and pointed out that Juárez and El Paso are the same city and the same community.

A similar event was planned for Tijuana later this afternoon