Gen Z Protesters Clash With Police Outside Mexico’s National Palace

Thousands of people marched through Mexico City and other cities on Saturday to protest crime, corruption and impunity, and in the capital some demonstrators tore down barriers around the National Palace and clashed with riot police who fired tear gas, according to NPR and Al Jazeera.

The marches were organized under the name “Generation Z Mexico,” and NPR described the protests as being led by young people who say they are speaking out against a government they accuse of colluding with drug traffickers. Demonstrators told NPR they accuse the government of a pact with the narcos, which they call a narco-state, and said they would not leave until it ended. Al Jazeera reported that older activists from opposition parties also joined the marches.

NPR’s Eyder Peralta reported from the scene that the march began peacefully through downtown and reached the Zocalo, the main square, where protesters broke through the metal barricades the government had set up to block access to the presidential palace. Riot police fired tear gas and stun grenades, he said. Al Jazeera reported that a small group of hooded protesters tore down fences around the palace, where President Claudia Sheinbaum lives, and that riot police responded with tear gas.

The demonstrations followed the killing of Carlos Manzo, the mayor of Uruapan in Michoacan state, who was shot dead on Nov. 1, Day of the Dead, according to NPR and Al Jazeera. NPR said he had taken a hard line against organized crime in his city, and Al Jazeera said he had campaigned against drug-trafficking gangs. Al Jazeera reported that his supporters joined Saturday’s protests.

The protests have a political edge. Ms. Sheinbaum alleges the protesters are backed by right-wing parties, NPR reported, and Al Jazeera said she has accused those parties of trying to infiltrate the Gen Z movement. Peralta said the crowd looked unlike the groups that are typically bused in to Mexican marches, describing it as a cross section of society from the upper to the lower class and from old to young.

The protesters told NPR that they want the government to take their suffering seriously and that they want the pact they say exists between the narcos and the government to end.