Mexico’s newly sworn in President Enrique Peña Nieto faced protests across the country as he took office this weekend, with videos of the police reaction going viral on social media.
A video of a young man with a bloodied face, who appears to have been injured in a fight with police, went viral on Twitter; while another video showing what seems to be a cop scooping up a protester and pulling him behind a line of riot police was shared more than 10,000 times on Facebook. Latino Rebels featured both videos on Monday.
The young man with the bloody face utters the Fidel Castro refrain “hasta la victoria, siempre” -- or “until victory, always” -- as he looks into the camera and says his name is Uriel Polo. Since then, the name became a highly followed hashtag on Twitter.
Watch the video below. WARNING: Graphic images.
Although the videos and images popping up across the web don’t provide much context, and could not be immediately verified, they give an idea of the intense emotions aroused in Mexico by Peña Nieto’s election and the return of his Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, to the presidency. The PRI governed Mexico for seven decades until the election of Vicente Fox in 2000.
And the violence wasn’t limited to the police. Some protesters threw fire bombs at cops and destroyed property, according to the Associated Press:
At least 76 people were treated for injuries, including 29 who hospitalized, as the result of clashes between protesters and tear-gas firing police, the Red Cross said. City officials said 103 people were detained, including 11 minors.
Vandals smashed windows of stores, banks and a hotel and made bonfires of furniture dragged into the streets. One downtown bank office where all the windows were broken had the words "Welcome Peña" painted across the facade in green.
Mexico City authorities charged 69 people with disturbing the peace in a group, according to Animal Político. The charge carries penalties ranging from five to 30 years in prison.
See images and videos from Mexico’s protests below. Warning: some of the images contain violence that some may find disturbing.
