Mexico City police hurled tear gas at protesting teachers to keep them from reaching the historic square where the "Fan fest" for the 2026 World Cup is under construction, according to AFP journalists.
The clash started when teachers, who are demanding better pay and benefits, broke through one of the metal barriers that have been set up at the entrance to the Zocalo plaza, a block from the government palace and a giant screen where fans will watch Mexico's first World Cup game on June 11.
"This event will have to be suspended," union leader Filiberto Frausto told AFP. "A cause like ours should be far above -- it's far more important than a little bit of distraction and fun."
A dissident faction of the teacher's union, or CNTE, convened the march, and has threatened to summon "millions" of teachers to the capital during the World Cup if the government doesn't fulfill their demands for salary raises and the reversal of pension laws.
In 2025, the same faction led a wave of protests that paralyzed the capital, blockading roads and even closing off the entrance to the Mexico City airport - one of the most transited in Latin America.
"We will win this struggle, whatever it costs!" protesters chanted. "It will fall, it will fall...that wall is going to fall."
One teacher's leader confirmed that at least two people were injured, one in the eye. AFP witnessed one of the participants being carried away with a bloody head wound.
Protesters lobbed firecrackers at the authorities in response to the tear-gas. Some masked marchers beat the metal barricades with tubes, while others broke the windows of a police tow-truck and a government building.
Rising above the cobblestoned Zocalo is a towering screen where World Cup games will be shown for the public.
In the past, the CNTE has camped in the plaza to pressure the government into meeting their demands.
But with World Cup preparations in full swing, the square has been heavily guarded for weeks, and police have prevented the teachers from reaching the square for the past week.
The Zocalo "is totally privatized" for the "Fan fest," said Francisco Garcia, a professor from the southern state of Guerrero who participated in the protest.
President Claudia Sheinbaum's administration agreed to a 9 percent salary increase with the leadership of the CNTE -- far from the 100 percent the dissident educators are demanding.
The monthly starting gross wage for a Mexican public school teacher is the equivalent of US $967.
"We won't leave until the president gives us a date to resume dialogues," said the CNTE member Elvira Veleces.
Sheinbaum said earlier today that her government is maintaining a dialogue with the teachers. "There are some demands that are beyond the reach of our budget," she said in her morning press conference, while indicating that others are possible.
Protesters later improvised a meeting around 100 meters from a wall of police.
Mexico expects five million tourists to visit the country for the World Cup, which it will jointly host with the United States and Canada.
Paola Olivares, a 20-year-old student, was in the city center when the clashes started -- and had to run away to take cover.
"Mexico is definitely not ready for the World Cup," she said.
ai-jt/jpo/sla
