Women marching on International Women’s Day clashed with police during roadblocks around the National Palace in Mexico City, where officers fired pepper spray after protesters tried to tear down a metal wall.
Sixty-two officers and 19 civilians were injured, said Marcela Figueroa, an official of the police agency. The Mexican city government has ‘categorically denied’ that it used any kind of gas against protesters.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador installed the metal barrier – described as a ‘peace wall’ by his spokesman – before the protests and said he wanted to protect government property from vandalism.
But the wall was a challenge for women, who accused the president – famous for traveling with light security through corners of the country under the control of drug cartels – of fearing the feminist movement and turning a cold shoulder to concern such as rampant sexual violence and a daily toll of ten murders of women. At least 939 women were killed in Mexico last year, according to official data.
“Where were you when I was raped,” a woman was heard screaming at the police amid the chaos.
López Obrador’s had a strained relationship with the feminist movement, which he accused of being manipulated by conservative opponents and influenced by foreign ideas.
“We want him to protect us in the same way he protects these buildings,” Vania Palacios, 19, said with a sign: “Fight today not to die tomorrow.”
Protesters wrote the names of women victims on the barrier after it was installed on Friday and later covered it with flowers. They also projected slogans on the National Palace – a seat of power since Aztec times – read: ‘Mexico Murder’ and ‘Legal Abortion Now’.
Another slogan contains the statement “a rapist will not be governor”, a reference to Félix Salgado Macedonio, who is running in the southern state of Guerrero, with the support of López Obrador. Salgado denied that he sexually assaulted five women and no charges were laid against him.
The president, often called Amlo, received criticism from women in his Morena party, who asked him to fire the candidate.
Salgado, in turn, outraged on Monday when did he tweet his “admiration” for women and their struggle praised.
“This president lied to us,” said Teresa Ramirez, a protester who put up posters of Amlo and Salgado with the slogan, “Not one vote for Morena.”
“We thought he would have answers, but he just mocked us – especially on women’s issues.”
Women are a thorn in the side of Amlo. He identified himself as leftist and labeled his opponents as conservative, but he often preached morals and values and tilted conservatively on social issues.
He has cut funding for day care and women’s shelters and promoted families as a solution to pandemic hardships, even as domestic violence has skyrocketed.
On Monday, he falsely claimed that women protests did not take place before he took office.
“We have a proverb in Spanish: ‘if you’re quiet, you look better. “And he seems to be subscribing to it,” said Maricruz Ocampo, an activist in the city of Querétaro. “Our feminists have decided that we do not look better when we are silent, because when we are silent, no one sees us and no one listens to us.”
Many women have expressed their hope for the Amlo government, Ocampo said, and he has promoted women with feminist sympathy to key positions – along with the appointment of a gender-balanced home. But he did not act on issues such as abortion and his state-level allies – which include a party founded by evangelists – preferred not to raise sensitive social issues.
“To many feminists, it looked like a government would arrive that would record their agenda,” said Bárbara González, a Monterrey political analyst. “But not only did Amlo oppose the movement … he always portrayed it as manipulative and without legitimacy.”
At his daily press conference on Tuesday, Amlo said: “These protests against the government under the flag of feminism … are in fact being driven by conservatives whose interests and privileges are threatened.”
He also accused correspondents of The Guardian, New York Times and El País of being ‘representatives of companies that took part in the looting of Mexico’.
He provided no evidence to substantiate his claims.