Protesters interrupt Mexico Senate session on day of controversial judicial reform vote

MEXICO CITY (CN) — Protesters, most of whom work for the federal judicial branch and have been on strike since Aug. 20, forcibly entered Mexico’s Senate building Tuesday during debates on a controversial judicial reform.

The protesters have been planted outside the Senate of the Republic for days, shutting down multiple main avenues of Mexico City and drawing heavy police presence in the corridor surrounding them and the Senate building.

Gerardo Fernández Noroña, president of the Senate, declared a recess when the protesters breaking through police barricades that used fire extinguishers as deterrents entered the top gallery, waving Mexican flags and chanting, “the resistance is here.”

The judicial reform — proposed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in February — would see all of Mexico’s some 7,000 judges get elected by popular vote instead of by a system based on professional proficiency, which critics say could lead to pandering to politicians and organized crime.

“Voted-in judges are an abuse of authority. We can’t properly defend the public that way. It takes away the opportunity for the citizens to be protected properly. We lose all independence of the judicial power,” said protester Raphael Jiménez Carlos, who has worked in different judicial posts for 22 years.

The session on the floor was not without its own drama, including claims from opposition senators of extortion and false arrests, as well as two missing senators. A two-thirds majority of 86 votes is required for the reform to pass. López Obrador’s ruling Morena party and its allied parties have already secured 85 votes.

Citizens Movement party coordinator, Clemente Castañeda, said that Senator Daniel Barreda was falsely arrested in his home state of Campeche. He accused the Campeche governor of intentionally not allowing him to the Senate to cast his vote against the reform.

This sentiment was echoed by other opposition party senators.

“You know that you do not have the votes to pass the constitutional reform and that it is a reality that you are pressuring people, using the state’s attorney general’s offices to obtain the votes that are missing,” said National Action Party Senator Ricardo Anaya during Tuesday’s session.

The second missing senator was National Action Party Senator Miguel Ángel Yunes Márquez, who took leave due to apparent health problems and has been incommunicado with his party. He called in a substitute, his father and former Veracruz governor, Miguel Ángel Yunes Linares.

Yunes Linares was accompanied into the Senate by prominent Morena politicians to chants of “traitor.” His five-minute allotted time at the podium was much longer due to constant interruption from opposition party members who wouldn’t let him speak, though he attempted to defend himself.

“This isn’t a democracy, this is a lynching. With these screams, they don’t want a democracy, they want a democracy from social media. A democracy of ’likes,’” he said.

Marko Cortés, National Action Party president, then took the podium in response to Yunes Linares, accusing him and his son of betrayal.

“It would have been more decent, dear friend, if you had taken the call and told us, I’m going to betray you,” Cortés said from the podium.

The vote on the reform was originally scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 11 then changed to Tuesday, Sept. 10. The Senate initially called off the session for the day when the protesters entered, but senators later reconvened Tuesday evening after moving the session to the former Senate building in the historic center of the city. The session is expected to last until the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The hundreds of protesters completely blocked off vehicle access on the avenue leading towards the main square of Mexico City, chanting, “The judicial power will not fall,” and, “If Mexico is important, don’t pass the reform.”