Pickers not only stayed out of the fields, they stood shoulder to shoulder blocking the main highway, stalling traffic for hours and all but stopping the harvest at the height of the season.

That is not a respectful form of protest and it is spreading like cancer. The protesters are harming innocent third parties who have nothing to do with the dispute. By blocking traffic, preventing people from getting to work, they may impact emergency medical services by preventing needed workers from accessing care facilities, blocking patients from accessing care facilities, blocking fire, police, and other emergency services from reaching the elderly in time, and a lot more that just does them no good.

I can't say what I would do if some protester blocked me from reaching the hospital before my father died.

"We haven't done anything wrong," she said. "We just want better lives."

That is a lie.

These protesters broke the social contract by harming innocent third parties blocking common shared infrastructure such as roads. Their lack of respect has been treated with a similar lack of respect. There is nothing surprising about that.

I am completely behind their right to protest and be heard. If they want to gather outside government buildings, the residence of the mayor, or virtually anywhere else, I believe their right to protest should be respected virtually unconditionally. With that said, it does not give anyone the right to harm innocent third parties, deprive them of their equal protections and access to social services such as a hospital, and deny them the right to work to feed their families. If anyone should understand that, it should be people protesting for higher wages.

They are even kidnapping people depriving of their rights under the Constitution of the Republic as well as other crimes:

When Velasco and others stopped a Tijuana-bound bus during the blockade Tuesday night, they took the passengers off and escorted them to a church where they spent the night. "We told them there was no need to be scared," Velasco said. "That we only want a just salary."

But what started as a peaceful protest turned ugly as some people began taking over government buildings and a police station in a string of coastal towns from Colonet to San Quintin. At least one store was looted.

tl;dr They deserve better pay for what they do, but their actions prevent me from offering them any support.