Several thousand people marched through the Mexican streets on Saturday protesting against corruption, crime and impunity. The demonstration saw the GenZ population backed by old supporters of opposition parties. The protest was mostly peaceful but ended with some young people clashing with the police.
The capital’s security secretary, Pablo Vazquez, said that 120 people were injured in the clashes, in which 100 were police officers. Protesters attacked police with stones, fireworks, sticks and chains, grabbing police shields and other equipment, Associated Press reported.
Despite a recent spate of high-profile murders in Mexico, including the assassination of a popular mayor of Michoacan, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum still maintains a high approval rating.
Days before the protest, Sheinbaum accused the right-wing parties of infiltrating the Gen Z protest and alleged that they were using bots on social media to increase attendance.
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People were seen holding a pirate skull flag that has become a symbol of Gen Z protests. This year, several countries saw large-scale Gen Z protests, a demographic group born between the late 1990s and early 2010s. Protests were organised against inequality, democratic backsliding and corruption.
The largest “Gen Z” protest took place in Nepal in September, after a ban on social media and led to the resignation pf PM KP Oli.
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People frustrated with systemic problems
In Mexico, many young people say they are frustrated with systemic problems that plague the nation, including corruption and impunity for violent crimes.
A 43-year-old physician named Arizbeth Garcia said that she was marching for better funding for public health and for doctors’ security who are exposed to danger in a country “where you can be murdered and nothing happens.”
This week, some of the ‘Gen Z media’ influencers said that they no longer back the protest. While elderly figures like former President Vicente Fox and Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego published messages in support of the protests.
The march saw people from different sections, with supporters of the recently killed mayor attending the protest wearing straw hats, a symbol of his political movement.
“The state is dying,” said Rosa Maria Avila, a 65-year-old real estate agent who travelled from the town of Patzcuaro in Michoacan state. She said that the mayor was killed because he was sending officers into the mountains to fight delinquents.
(With agency inputs)