- Authorities report 20 arrests and 20 administrative detentions.
- Protests break out across the country after the assassination of Mayor Carlos Manzo on November 1.
- Generation Z in Mexico leads marches, officials blame right-wing groups and bots.
Thousands of people protested across Mexico on Saturday under the banner of “Generation Z,” denouncing the rise in violence following the public assassination of an anti-crime mayor earlier this month.
In Mexico City, a small group of hooded protesters tore down fences around the National Palace where President Claudia Sheinbaum lives, sparking a clash with riot police who fired tear gas, according to Reuters witnesses.
Mexico City Public Security Secretary Pablo Vázquez said at a news conference that 100 police officers were injured, including 40 who required hospital treatment. Another 20 civilians were also injured, Vázquez told local media Milenio.
The Secretary of Public Security also said that 20 people were detained and another 20 “removed for administrative violations.”
Other marches took place in several cities in Mexico, including the western state of Michoacán, where anger erupted over the Nov. 1 assassination of Uruapan Mayor Carlos Manzo, who was shot to death at a public Day of the Dead event.
Some protesters in Mexico City directed their anger toward Sheinbaum’s party, chanting “Out with Morena.” Some also called for greater state efforts to stop crime and violence, shouting: “Carlos didn’t die, the government killed him.”
A group calling itself “Generation Z Mexico” that called for the protests has said in a “manifesto” circulating on social media that it is non-partisan and represents Mexican youth who are fed up with violence, corruption and abuse of power.
Generation Z refers to people born between 1997 and 2012, immediately after millennials, and protest groups in other countries around the world have adopted the label to push for social and political change.
Sheinbaum’s government has questioned the motives behind Saturday’s marches, saying they were largely organized by right-wing political opponents and promoted by bots on social media.
