Clashes erupt at Israeli embassy protest in Mexico

Clashes broke out on Tuesday between police and protesters outside the Israeli embassy in Mexico City, rallying against the country's military offensive in the southern Gazan city of Rafah, AFP journalists said.

Some protesters covered their faces and threw stones at riot police who blocked their path to the diplomatic complex in the city's Lomas de Chapultepec neighbourhood.

Around 200 people joined the "Urgent action for Rafah" demonstration, about 30 of whom started to break down barriers preventing them from reaching the Israeli mission.

Police officers deployed tear gas and threw back the stones hurled at them by protesters.

The demonstration was called in response to an Israeli strike which ignited an inferno in a displacement camp outside Rafah, killing 45 people according to Palestinian officials.

A demonstrator jumps a fence during a protest in support of Palestinians in Mexico City on Tuesday. Reuters

Meanwhile, a mayoral candidate in the central Mexican state of Morelos was murdered on Tuesday, while another one was wounded by gunfire in western Jalisco state, the governments of both states said.

The attacks took place less than a week before Mexicans head to the polls to elect a new president and 20,000 other public officials, in a campaign marred by the murder of thirty candidates, according to the NGO Data Civica.

In Morelos state, the victim was Ricardo Arizmendi, a candidate for mayor of the city of Cuautla, the state government said in a statement on social media.

In Jalisco state, candidate Gilberto Palomar who was running for mayor of the Encarnacion de Diaz municipality and two of his aides were shot inside a home, the state's security coordinator Ricardo Sanchez Beruben wrote on X.

Protesters carry a banner that reads "Rafah burns" during a demonstration in Mexico City, Mexico. Reuters

According to the Mexican government, since the start of the election campaign in September 2023, 22 candidates have been murdered, a figure lower than Data Cívica's count.

Over 27,000 troops, including military personnel and National Guard members, will be deployed to guarantee security in Sunday's general elections, President Lopez Obrador has promised.

Agence France-Presse