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The demonstration was mostly peaceful but ended with some young
people clashing with the police. Protesters attacked police with
stones, fireworks, sticks and chains, grabbing police shields
and other equipment.
The capital’s security secretary, Pablo Vázquez. said 120 people
were injured, 100 of them police officers. Twenty people were
arrested.
In several countries this year, members of the demographic group
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 the resignation of
that nation’s 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 protests
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 murders that
includes the assassination of a popular mayor in the western
state of Michoacan.
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 elderly figures like
former President Vicente Fox, and Mexican billionaire Ricardo
Salinas Pliego published messages in support of the protests.
Saturday’s march was attended by people from several age groups,
with supporters of the recently killed Michoacan Mayor Carlos
Manzo, attending the protest 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 Patzcuaro in
Michoacan state.
“He was killed because he was a man who was sending officers
into the mountains to fight delinquents. He had the guts to
confront them,” she said of Manzo.
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