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Mexico City Assesses Damage After Violent Feminist Protest

Associated Press

   MEXICO CITY - Workers erected a wooden wall around Mexico City's iconic
   Angel of Independence monument Saturday after feminists defaced it with
   graffiti during a raucous and violent protest over a string of alleged
   rapes by police.

   The disorder Friday night erupted as part of protests that arose this
   week over a perception that city officials were not adequately
   investigating the rape accusations. Both victims were teenagers. The
   demonstrations have become known as the "glitter protests'' after
   marchers doused the city's police chief in pink glitter.

   Hundreds of city workers spent the wee hours of the morning
   pressure-cleaning and painting over graffiti.

   The deputy director of artistic patrimony at the National Fine Arts
   Institute, Dolores Martinez, said at the base of the statue that
   officials were assessing the damage to the Angel and other points in
   the capital that protesters attacked.

   At the same time, Martinez added, the fine arts institute "respects
   freedom of speech and offers support for actions to eradicate all forms
   of violence against women.''

   Protesters wrote phrases like "They don't take care of us'' and "rape
   state'' in lime green, purple and black spray paint across the base of
   the Angel monument, which commemorates Mexico's independence from Spain
   and is often the site of celebrations by city residents.

   Demonstrators also painted the word "rapists'' on the wall of a nearby
   police station and trashed a major bus station. A male television
   reporter was assaulted while covering the protest.

   Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, the first woman to head the city's
   government, said via Twitter that the attorney general's office of the
   metropolis will investigate and bring charges against those who
   attacked journalists.

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