Thousands rally in Mexico City, calling for president to step down
Mexicans have gathered in Mexico City in what organizers say was the biggest demonstration against President Andres Manuel Lopez since he took office, almost two years ago.
Thousands of people rallied through central Mexico City on Saturday, waving Mexican flags and chanting "Lopez out.”
Estimates of the number of people participated in the rally varied.
Authorities put the number at 8,000 people, but one of the opposition groups behind the demonstration said more than 150,000 people took part in the Saturday demonstration.
Lopez Obrador, according to polls, still remains popular in the county, but the opposition criticizes him for everything from the economic crisis and gang violence to a shortage of medicines.
Before taking office in December 2018, Lopez Obrador was renowned for leading massive protests against the former government.
The president, commonly known as Amlo, said earlier this week that such protests by "conservative" critics showed he was shaking up the country.
Last month, he announced plans for a referendum on whether to prosecute the nation’s former presidents, saying he wanted “the people” to give the green light to any legal proceedings against five former presidents for corruption charges.
This month, Mexico’s Supreme Court approved the plan, but the justices reworded the referendum question to remove any reference to former presidents.
When he took office, Amlo promised to fight corruption and "clean up the government like a staircase,” from the top down.
The president said that the country would no longer suffer at the hands of corrupt leaders, whom he described as “a mafia of power.”
His own family, however, has been caught up in corruption allegations, after the publication of videos from 2015 showing one of his brothers receiving cash from a political ally for Amlo’s party.
The man who was paying money in the video later served in Lopez Obrador’s government.
Amlo, however, dismissed corruption charges, describing the video leaks as an act of revenge by adversaries angered by his efforts to clean up the government.
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