120 injured, 20 arrested as mayor’s murder sparks massive Gen Z protest in Mexico City against rising crime

Mexico City: Several thousand people marched through Mexico City on Saturday to protest against crime, corruption and impunity, in a rally initiated by members of Generation Z but bolstered by strong support from older backers of opposition parties.

The demonstration remained largely peaceful until its final stages, when clashes broke out between some young protesters and police. Stones, fireworks, sticks and chains were hurled at officers, with demonstrators seizing police shields and other equipment.

According to the capital’s security secretary, Pablo Vázquez, 120 people were injured, including 100 police officers. Twenty people were arrested.

Many young Mexicans say they are increasingly disillusioned by entrenched corruption and widespread impunity for violent crime.

The protest comes amid a wave of Gen Z–led movements around the world this year, with young people born between the late 1990s and early 2010s mobilising against corruption, democratic backsliding and inequality. The largest of these took place in Nepal in September following a ban on social media, ultimately leading to the resignation of the prime minister. Similar protests had erupted in Peru and Madagascar.

Saturday’s rally drew participants of all ages, including supporters of the recently murdered Michoacán mayor Carlos Manzo on November 1, many of whom wore the straw hats associated with his political movement. Manzo had been an  outspoken critic of the federal government’s inability to control organised crime, as per media reports.

“We need more security,” said Andrés Massa, a 29-year-old business consultant carrying the pirate-skull flag that has become a global symbol of Gen Z protests.

Arizbeth García, a 43-year-old doctor who joined the march, said she was calling for greater investment in the public health system and improved security for medical workers. “We are also exposed to the insecurity gripping the country, where you can be murdered and nothing happens,” she said.

President Claudia Sheinbaum continues to enjoy high approval ratings despite a spate of high-profile killings, including the recent assassination of a popular mayor in the western state of Michoacán.

In the days leading up to the march, Sheinbaum accused right-wing parties of attempting to infiltrate the Gen Z movement and of using social media bots to inflate support. Some Gen Z influencers subsequently distanced themselves from the protest, while older political figures, including former president Vicente Fox and billionaire businessman Ricardo Salinas Pliego, publicly endorsed it.

"The state is dying,” said Rosa María Ávila, a 65-year-old estate agent who had travelled from Pátzcuaro in Michoacán. Speaking of Manzo, she said, “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.”

(With AP inputs)