Feminist protestors were met with bullets yesterday (Nov. 9) in Cancun, in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico. Two reporters were struck by gunfire and more than 15 others were injured.
Quintana Roo Governor Carlos Joaquin blamed police on Twitter, saying he condemns the “acts of violence” and “intimidation and aggression against protestors.”
Demonstrators had gathered to protest rampant femicides just hours after the body of the 20-year-old woman was found. Alexis was her name; she’d been missing for days. Her death is another in the dozens of women killed this year in Quintana Roo alone.
A local paper, Por Esto, posted a photo of an officer brandishing a pistol. This morning, the outlet reported that the Municipal Director of Public Safety, Eduardo Santamaría, had issued the order for officers to fire into the air as a means of dispersing the crowd.
The mayor of Benito Juárez announced Santamaría has been fired. She also condemned vandalism from protestors.
Protestors were allegedly attempting to get into Cacun’s City Hall.
(More here.)
Yesterday was not the first time protestors in Cancun were met by police repression and violence: one major example is this protest in March of 2011.
This morning, media workers gathered this morning in Cancun to protest police repression.