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Thousands of Mexicans are gathering to demand the resignation of President Enrique Peña Nieto in Mexico City, a protest that comes as the country marks 206 years of independence.
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Social media users are using the hashtags #RenunciaYa ("Resign Now") and #MotivosSobran ("Enough Reasons") and calling for people to gather at the Independence Monument in Mexico City, also known as the Angel of Independence.
Thousands of citizens and members of different social organizations on Thursday night tried to march towards the Zocalo, the main square in the city, where the government holds its traditional event to commemorate the independence of the Aztec nation.
Police met the protesters before they could enter the Zocalo and prevented them from going forward. So far, no victims were reported from the clash.
Photos: Sin Embargo MX
The relatives of the 43 students who disappeared in Ayotzinapa also joined the protest, and held signs that read "Peña Nieto inept. For the good of Mexico resign."
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The march is set to take place two weeks after the government Peña Nieto presented its fourth report on the economic, political and social situation of the country.
Ixchel Cisneros, executive director of the National Center for Social Communication said the president has committed "serious human rights violations, which may well be grounds for the resignation of a president, not only in Mexico but in other countries."
"We want to revalorize the presidential figure, because in the time that Enrique Peña Nieto has been in charge he has done things that shouldn’t be allowed," said Cisneros. "We can’t let something like that happen again."
"Today Mexico celebrates its independence and demands the resignation of its president"
"Why I am going to take to the streets to demand (the president) #ResignNow? Here are my reasons"
Sept. 26 marks two years since the disappearance of the 43 students of the Ayotzinapa school in Iguala, Guerrero. The attorney general's office alleges that the students were arrested by police and delivered to a gang, whose members tortured and killed the students.
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According to official figures, more than 27,000 people are missing in Mexico, almost half of them since Peña Nieto came to power in 2012.
There is an average of 56 murder victims a day in the country, according to a report from the National Public Security System.
According to the National Council for Evaluation of Social Development Policy, the number of people living in poverty has also increased from 53.3 million in 2012 to 55.3 million in 2014, comprising more than 46 percent of the total population.
The Organization of American States warned in 2015 that the cost of corruption in Mexico is five times greater than elsewhere, on average.
Peña Nieto has also been strongly criticized for inviting U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to Mexico.
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