Tens of thousands of Mexican justice workers, supporters and politicians marched this Sunday in more than 20 cities in an unprecedented protest against President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s proposed budget cuts to the justice system.

The demonstrators, including judges, marched in the main cities of the country, such as Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara, Cancún, Mérida, Puebla and Tijuana, as well as Aguascalientes, Celaya, Colima, Chihuahua, Cuernavaca, León, Mexicali, Querétaro , Saltillo, Tampico, Torreón, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Uruapan, Veracruz and Xalapa.

In the Mexican capital, demonstrators marched from the Monument to the Revolution to the Zócalo, home to the National Palace where López Obrador resides.

The protest comes after the strike that began last Thursday in the judicial sector and until next Tuesday, the longest in this century, after the Chamber of Deputies voted to reduce trust funds for a total of 15 billion pesos (more of 820 million dollars).

During the protest, which López Obrador called a “rebellion” of the judiciary, workers accused the president and his concerned lawmakers of infringing on their labor rights by reducing funds that will now go to the Federation Treasury .

“We are all the judiciary, these are not privileges, these are our rights”, could we read on one of the banners in the capital.

In Monterrey, the country’s second largest city, workers held slogans in Macro Plaza such as “The judiciary, national counterweight” and “Without the judiciary, who will protect you?”

“This is a citizens’ march, precisely with the aim of informing all Mexicans, in this case all residents of Monterrey (inhabitants of Monterrey). It is in favor of the demand for autonomy and the independence of the judiciary of the Federation,” he explained. at the EFE agency the union leader of section 11, Dámaso Pérez.

In Guadalajara, the third most populous city, hundreds of workers chanted “freedom, freedom, judicial independence” in the Plaza de Armas.

“Today we must defend ourselves to defend”, “United justice” and “respect for the division of powers” ​​were the main slogans of these demonstrators.

The Senate still must approve the funding cut, so workers will analyze their next steps next Tuesday, when the planned work stoppage ends.