Streets of Rage: The Key Moments of the Mexican Teachers' Strike in Pictures RuptlyTV
go to original January 19, 2014

Tens of thousands of teachers, members of the Coordinadora Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (CNTE) and affiliated unions, have struggled for months against new legislation introduced by the government of President Enrique Pena Nieto, adding a system of teacher assessment that activists say will threaten their jobs and set up the potential for managers to victimise teachers.

While the reforms came into force on February 25, major protests against the new laws came in April, with teachers raising barricades and blocking major traffic thoroughfares throughout the capital. Despite action from police and the outbreak of violent clashes, the strikers refused to back down, with protests reaching up to 200,000 across the country in September, with 20,000 marching in Mexico City alone. Riot police deployed water cannon and tear gas against protesters attempting to occupy public spaces, such as the famous Zocalo marketplace in the heart of the city.

The violence shows every sign of remaining in force, after a delegation of teachers faced off with police protecting the Ministry of the Interior in December, smashing through barricades and setting fires in the streets outside the government stronghold.

Further protests have already taken place in January, with the CNTE refusing to back down without assurances that the new reforms will be revoked, and what they say is a slide towards privatisation of education reversed. President Nieto's government says the laws are necessary to fight corruption, and has announced no plans to water down their impact.

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