A ‘Blue Kind of Violence’: Policing the Social Movements in Ciudad de México

Social movements are the essence of alternative politics regardless of time and place. The demands of the crowds are generally expressed without getting stuck in any canal in the protests. Despite the fact that the states’ reflection towards these protests can change by time and conditions, the coercive power of the government (police) is always a fundamental institution. The police do not merely stop the protests, they also produce the countermovement of them. In other words, the police institutions cover not only a specific government, but the systemic values of the state. Due to its original position and background in the semi-peripheral countries, the protests in Mexico deserve special attention. This study scrutinizes the evolution of social movements in Ciudad de Mexico since the mid-1990s. Centring on archival research, text analysis and interviews with the activists/NGO members, this research traces the policing social movements. The research specifically picks the economic-based, gender-based and ethnic/cultural-based movements and protests in Ciudad de Mexico as those years have included the affects of deep economic and social depression.