Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

Mexican president defends 10-foot barriers to wall off women protesters

Published 06/03/2021, 18:40
Updated 06/03/2021, 18:46
© Reuters. Mexico City erects barricades ahead of expected violence in Women's Day march

© Reuters. Mexico City erects barricades ahead of expected violence in Women's Day march

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Saturday said a metallic barrier to wall off the presidential palace ahead of a planned women's march on International Women's Day was to avoid provocation and protect historic buildings from vandalism.

In a country where femicides rose nearly 130% between 2015 and 2020, critics said the decision to erect the 10-foot-high (3-meter) barriers was symptomatic of Lopez Obrador's apathy toward the crisis of violence afflicting women.

Ahead of International Women's Day on Monday, barriers were also installed around other emblematic buildings and monuments in downtown Mexico City where a year ago tens of thousands of people protested rampant violence against women and impunity.

"We have to avoid provocation of people who only want to cause damage," Lopez Obrador said at an event in Yucatan. "Imagine, if we don't take care of the national palace and they vandalize it. What image will this send to the world?"

Lopez Obrador reiterated that women had the right to protest and cited his own movement in 2006 as an appropriate form of peaceful protest.

"The presidency was stolen from us ... and we protested but never broke glass. ... I walked two, three times all the way from Tabasco to Mexico City," he said. Lopez Obrador has repeatedly accused opponents of electoral fraud over the years.

At least 939 women were victims of femicide last year in Mexico, official data shows.

Interior Minister Olga Sanchez Cordero said on Twitter that the barriers were "for the protection of the women."

Anger among women was stoked this year after Felix Salgado, who has been accused of rape, announced his candidacy for governor for the southern state of Guerrero.

A representative for Salgado did not reply to repeated requests for comment; media reported that he has denied the allegations.

© Reuters. Mexico City erects barricades ahead of expected violence in Women's Day march

Lopez Obrador has said that those calling on him to drop support for Salgado, a member of the ruling Morena party, are politically motivated.

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.