Protests erupt in Mexico City as World Cup begins

The 2026 FIFA World Cup began in Mexico on Thursday with a victory for the Mexican national team over South Africa, while thousands of protesters gathered in the streets of Mexico City, one of the tournament’s host cities, to denounce government inaction and the country’s ongoing disappearance crisis.

Starting at 7 a.m. (1300 GMT), hours before the opening of the global football tournament co-hosted by Mexico, the United States, and Canada, demonstrators from various social movements assembled across multiple locations in Mexico City to protest violence in the country and to criticize the federal government, News.Az reports, citing Anadolu Agency.

The protesters represented a broad range of causes as global attention turned to Mexico for the start of the World Cup.

The National Coordinator of Education Workers, a teachers’ union considered one of the country’s largest labor organizations, occupied major roadways in southern Mexico City that connect the capital to the Azteca Stadium, where the opening match of the tournament took place.

Teachers traveled from across the country to the capital to demand that the government repeal the 2007 pension reforms, which replaced the previous state-backed pension system based on years of service with an individual contribution scheme linked to financial markets.

The teachers demanded that the current system—under which workers’ contributions are invested in a range of financial securities, resulting in relatively low pensions—be abolished in order to safeguard the livelihoods of retired educators.

News.Az 

By Nijat Babayev