Women in Mexico City protest against alleged police rapes

Hundreds of women wielding pink spray paint and smoke demonstrated Friday night in downtown Mexico City to protest against a string of alleged sexual attacks by police officers.

They chanted “Rapist police!” and “My friends protect me, you don’t!” and some trashed a bus station, breaking windows and gates. The crowd moved on to a police station, where they smashed windows and set a fire on the second floor.

Many then went to the nearby Independence Monument, the symbolic center of the city, and spray painted the base of the stone monument with slogans like “damned pigs!”

The demonstrations have become known as the “glitter protests” after marchers earlier this week doused the city’s police chief in pink glitter.

This week, an auxiliary policeman was held for trial on charges he raped a young female employee at a city museum.

In another case, city prosecutors have said there are inconsistencies in an accusation made against several police officers by a woman who alleged they raped her earlier this month in a patrol car.