Clashes as Mexico City marches against gender violence

By Eduard Ribas i Admetlla

Mexico City, Nov 25 (EFE).- Clashes took place in Mexico City on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women as thousands marched to condemn gender violence, which kills at least 10 women a day in the country.

“In Mexico, ten women continue to disappear every day, and every minute and we find them raped or murdered,” María del Carmen Volante, whose daughter Pamela disappeared four years ago after attending a concert on the outskirts of the capital, told Efe.

The mother criticized that the authorities’ lack the resources and a gender perspective to deal with cases of violence against women.

The large march in the capital, one of the many across Mexico, started at the Monument to the Revolution bound for the central Zócalo square, crossing the emblematic Paseo de la Reforma.

“The police don’t take care of me – my friends take care of me” and “Down with the patriarchy that is going to fall” were some of the slogans that the protesters chanted.

The monuments and some shops along the route were armored with metal fences and surrounded by policewomen to avoid being damaged, but they did not prevent some hooded protesters from breaking windows and bus stops.

In Zócalo square there were clashes with police who surrounded the National Palace, seat of the government and residence of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Mexico is one of the most violent countries against women, with the killing of more than 10 a day, according to UN Women and civil organizations.

Femicides continue to rise with 842 cases reported between January and October of this year, an increase of 4.9 percent compared to the same period in 2020.

Sixty-six percent of women over 15 years of age have suffered some episode of violence throughout their lives, and 43.9 percent from a current or former partner.

“I come to ask for justice for me,” Anahí Granados told Efe.

She said that in October last year she was raped and it is a struggle to get authorities to catch the suspect or look for him.

The problem has grown in recent years fueled by the impunity that exists for most crimes in Mexico.

Obrador has been very critical of the feminist movement, as he has accused the right of being infiltrated in the protests and recently suggested that feminism was encouraged by neoliberalism. EFE

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