Mannequins of World Cup players were stripped naked and set on fire by striking Mexican teachers who vowed: “The ball won’t roll.” Days before Mexico City stages the opening match of the prestigious tournament school teachers went on the rampage pledging to disrupt it.
The angry mob set their sights on an exhibition themed around the FIFA 2026 World Cup football tournament that had been set up on a famous avenue in Mexico City featuring giant player statues wearing team shirts.
They set ripped down display dummies of players, tore off their kits then torched them, set footballs alight and blocked main roads across the capital. The teachers, associated with the CNTE union, are calling for salary rises and the reversal of pension laws and have threatened to protest during the World Cup unless a solution is reached.
Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum had to switch a planned meeting with an official to end the dispute to Zoom after teachers blocked access to the National Palace. The chaos came a day after striking teachers were tear-gassed and shot with rubber bullets by riot police as they marched toward Mexico City’s historic Zócalo plaza days before the square is expected to host the World Cup ‘Fan Fest’.
Five protesters were injured including one teacher who lost an eye, according to union leaders. Mexican authorities have denied using rubber bullets or teargas. Protestors chanted: “If there is no solution the ball won’t roll.”
Union leader Filiberto Frausto said: “This shows that the spaces of the people can be privatised at the whim and for the benefit of the large corporations behind this World Cup, minimising the fight for workers’ rights.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum hit back, and said: “Through dialogue, we will try to address the problems that are feasible to address. There are some demands that the budget doesn’t allow us to fully meet, but there are some that we can; so, we are addressing them.”
The violence in Mexico City follows similar clashes between protesting teachers and police in the city of Oaxaca last month. The protests have stoked anger and fear among business owners in Mexico’s historic downtown hoping for an economic boost from the World Cup.
Gerardo López Becerra, head of the Concomercio business group, said company bosses had been “saying it was going to be great, that lots of people, lots of tourists, would come”.
“But with these tents set up in different parts of the historic centre it’s affecting a lot of businesses,” he added.
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