MEXICO CITY – Hundreds of women marched at the Mexican government headquarters on Monday, some carrying their children, others blowtorches, bats and hammers, prepared for a confrontation they hoped would force the country to face unbridled violence against women.
The International Women’s Day protest was fueled by anger at President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who supported a politician accused by several women of rape in a country that suffers one of the worst rates of gender-based violence in the world. Despite a disagreement within the governing party on the issue, López Obrador supported the politician before the June elections.
As protesters gathered around the national palace – Mr. Lopez Obrador’s residence and the seat of government – his anger was concentrated on a metal fence that was erected to protect the building from being invaded. Women wearing black balaclavas tore down parts of the barricade as police fired volleys of flash-bang grenades at the crowd, causing several small riots.
At least 62 policemen and 19 civilians were injured on Monday night, according to the Mexico City security agency.
Although López Obrador portrayed his presidency as part of a populist movement to raise the marginalized in Mexico, activists say the president has in fact ignored the needs of half the population. The president insisted on Monday that his government is committed to equality, but critics argue that little has been done about violence against women during his term.
In the nearly two years since Mr. López Obrador’s inauguration, the rates of violence against women have not changed significantly. Last year, an average of 10 women were killed in Mexico every day, and there were about 16,000 cases of rape. An investigation by a news site, Animal Politico, found that from 2014 to 2018, only about 5 percent of all allegations of sexual assault, including rape, resulted in a criminal sentence.
It is this impunity that infuriates Mexican feminists, leading some groups to embrace violence as a tactic to force the country to pay attention to their demands.
“We are fighting today not to die tomorrow,” the women shouted on Monday as they marched through the city towards the national palace. Others declared: “It is not my fault, not because of where I was or what I was wearing”.
Over the weekend, activists painted the barricade around the palace with names of women killed by their husbands, boyfriends or alleged admirers.
Ivette Granados, 49, and her daughter Maria Puente, 16, attended Monday’s protest together. They said they were irritated by their daily fight against sexual abuse that many say is the common experience for all women in Mexico. Mother and daughter took turns on the list of assaults they said they had suffered over the years: being grabbed on the street, on the subway or at a party, and men showing off their genitals to them in public.
Although Granados did not agree to use violence as a tactic to promote the feminist movement, she lamented that it seemed to be the only thing that made the nation notice its years-long struggle for equality.
“I have seen this throughout history in women’s peaceful marches – they have given no results,” said Granados. “I think that these things make governments and people change. And even if I don’t agree, life shows me that only then did they turn around to see these situations. “
This year’s protests, which cumulatively attracted several thousand women, were much smaller than those of 2020, when tens of thousands attended.
Some women pointed out the coronavirus as the cause of the lowest attendance.
Last year, protesters filled the streets of the capital after several terrible attacks on women sparked public outrage, including the murder of a 7-year-old girl who was found disemboweled in a corpse bag.
A day later, tens of thousands of women stayed at home without working on a national strike to protest the violence.
Mr. López Obrador has repeatedly downplayed the protest movement or accused feminist groups of being politically motivated.
And he further infuriated many women in Mexico by refusing to condemn an important member of his own party who has been accused of sexual assault by several women. The candidate, Félix Salgado Macedonio, runs for governor in the state of Guerrero, pending a party vote to confirm his candidacy.
On the morning of Monday’s protest, the president again accused conservative groups of co-opting the feminist movement and said that the feminist marches only started after he came to power. He pointed to his own government as a commitment to his fight for equality, the first cabinet in Mexico’s history to have half the seats occupied by women.
López Obrador defended the wall that his government built around the national palace. And she said that while she supported the feminist movement, she would not tolerate the violence or vandalism seen during the women’s march last year.
Granados and his daughter said the wall looked inadequate for a president who says he is a man of the people.
“Look, I don’t agree to destroy monuments or damage, right?” Said Mrs. Granados. “But it is also clear to me that a monument is not worth more than a girl’s life.”
Her daughter, Mrs. Puente, jumped.
The wall, she said, “is a contradiction.”
Ana Sosa, from Mexico City, contributed to the report.