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Silent protesters light up Mexico in anti-crime marches

Sunday, 31 August, 2008

Downtown Mexico City has sparkled with a sea of twinkling lights late as some 200,000 white-clad protesters have joined the largest in a wave of nationwide protests against surging crime.(AAP) 

Scores of towns and cities took part in the "Iluminemos Mexico" or "Let's Illuminate Mexico" silent marches to show a united front against escalating kidnappings and murders. Violence has spiked since President Felipe Calderon, who took office at the end of 2006, launched a crackdown on drug trafficking and related attacks, including the deployment of more than 36,000 soldiers across the country. Police say 200,000 people attended the Mexico City protest as thousands spilled out of the capital's main Zocalo square, which has a capacity of 160,000.  They sang the national anthem together before putting out their candles at 8:30 pm local time.  National action Similar protests have taken place in near unison across Mexico's 32 states. Organizers had hoped to emulate a similar march in 2004, when almost half a million protested against kidnappings and insecurity, forcing the government to carry out purges of the notoriously corrupt police and other reforms. The Reforma daily has reported this week has been the most violent since Calderon launched his offensive, with 167 murders, including 24 police officers killed and 21 decapitated bodies found. "That's enough now. No more impunity," read one banner in Mexico City. "Magistrates, no more revoking sentences," read another. Some 2,700 people have died so far this year in gangland-style killings – more than in all of 2007 – across the country, according to national media, and Mexico has overtaken Colombia and Iraq with its kidnapping record. Anger unleashed  The recent high-profile kidnapping and assassination of 14-year-old Fernando Marti on his way to school in Mexico City – a crime in which police were involved – has unleashed the latest wave of public anger over insecurity and systemic corruption. Official figures suggest 323 kidnappings were carried out in Mexico in the first half of 2008, while one rights group reported 400 kidnappings so far this year, compared with 438 for the whole of last year. Mexican leaders last week signed a national security pact, the latest such effort in recent years, with a promise to fight insecurity and police corruption.

Source: AFP