MEXICO CITY — Several thousand people took to the streets of Mexico City on Saturday to protest crime, corruption and impunity in a demonstration organized by members of Generation Z, but the march ended with strong backing from older supporters of opposition parties.
The demonstration was mostly peaceful, though it ended with some young people clashing with the police. Protesters attacked officers with stones, fireworks, sticks and chains, grabbing police shields and other equipment.
The capital’s security secretary, Pablo Vázquez, said 120 people were injured, including 100 police officers. Twenty people were arrested.
In several countries this year, people born between the late 1990s and early 2010s have organized protests against inequality, democratic backsliding and corruption.
The largest Gen Z protests took place in Nepal in September, following a ban on social media, and led to an uprising that turned violent at times and resulted in the resignation of the prime minister.
In Mexico, many young people say they are frustrated with systemic problems like corruption and impunity for violent crimes.
“We need more security,” said Andres Massa, a 29-year-old business consultant who carried the pirate skull flag that has become a global symbol of Gen Z protests.
Arizbeth Garcia, a 43-year-old physician who joined the rally, said she was marching for more funding for the public health system, and for better security because doctors “are also exposed to the insecurity gripping the country, where you can be murdered and nothing happens.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum still has high approval ratings despite a recent spate of high-profile homicides including the assassination of Carlos Manzo, the popular mayor of Uruapan in the western state of Michoacán.
In the days leading up to Saturday’s protest, Sheinbaum accused right-wing parties of trying to infiltrate the Gen Z movement, and of using bots on social media to try to increase attendance.
This week, some Gen Z social media influencers said they no longer backed Saturday’s protests, while older figures such as former President Vicente Fox and billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego published messages in support of the march.
Saturday’s march was attended by people from several age groups, with supporters of Manzo wearing the straw hats that symbolize his political movement.
“The state is dying,” said Rosa Maria Avila, a 65-year-old real estate agent who traveled from the town of Pátzcuaro in Michoacán.
Manzo “was killed because he was a man who was sending officers into the mountains to fight delinquents,” she said. “He had the guts to confront them.”
Verza writes for the Associated Press.
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