Mexico protesters burn Donald Trump effigy, slam US border policy

01 November 2020 - 07:40 By Jorge Nieto
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Migrants and members of civil society burn a pinata in the image of US President Donald Trump during a protest against stalled asylum claims and the building of the wall, at the border fence between Mexico and the US, in Tijuana, Mexico, on October 31 2020.
Migrants and members of civil society burn a pinata in the image of US President Donald Trump during a protest against stalled asylum claims and the building of the wall, at the border fence between Mexico and the US, in Tijuana, Mexico, on October 31 2020.
Image: REUTERS/Jorge Duenes

Protesters in Mexico burned effigies of Donald Trump and a border patrol agent on the US border on Saturday, condemning President Donald Trump's migration policies and urging Americans to reject him at the ballot box on Tuesday.

A few dozen migrant activists marched to the beach fence separating Mexico from the US at the border city of Tijuana chanting, "Trump, we won't pay for your wall," then set fire to a crude, besuited effigy of the president on a stick.

"We're calling on people to vote against Trump and in favour of hope. Biden has promised us a humanitarian migration reform, we'll be watching to ensure the promises are kept this time," said Hugo Castro, a Mexican-American migrant activist.

Trump, a Republican, is battling Democratic opponent Joe Biden, seeking re-election as president four years after he won office pledging to stop illegal immigration from Mexico, which he has accused of sending rapists and murderers north.

Insisting Mexico will pay for the border wall he is building between the two countries, Trump has pushed and threatened President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador into tightening up Mexico's borders against migrants from Central America.

Alongside the Trump effigy, the demonstrators torched a pinata of a border patrol agent, a week after a Mexican man was killed in an altercation with US officials attempting to cross into the United States on the Tijuana-San Diego border. 

- Reuters


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