MEXICO CITY (AP) – Authorities have erected high steel barriers against barriers surrounding the Mexican city’s national palace ahead of planned rallies in honor of International Women’s Day on Monday.
The colonial-era palace is located on the expansive central square of the city, and is home to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
López Obrador has been engaging in verbal talks with feminists in recent weeks after his Morena party nominated a man accused of rape as a candidate for governor of the southern state of Guerrero.
Candidate Félix Salgado is not charged, in part because prosecutors allege that the statute of limitations runs out on one of the charges. His lawyer denied the allegations. But the Morena party has planned a re-run of an internal poll to see if Salgado should stay as a candidate.
The installation of the barricades late Thursday and early Friday was ironic, as López Obrador himself once led protests in the same square.
Some protesters during women’s rights demonstrations over the past few years have faced violence and vandalism.