Feminist activists and family members of the missing ramped up a protest at the main offices of Mexico's human rights commission on Monday, after occupying the building on September 2 to draw attention to kidnapped persons and attacks targeting women.

People watch the light show for the upcoming celebrations of the 210th anniversary of the Mexican Independence Day, at Zocalo Square in Mexico City, Mexico, on September 1. Photo: Xinhua

The activists, mostly masked women, defaced office signs with hammers, pinned up banners and painted slogans on walls late last week, angry with what they decry as insufficient government action to root out the crimes, most of which go either uninvestigated or unsolved by the country's weak justice system.

Their anger intensified on Monday after leftist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador chided the activists earlier in the day for defacing images of Francisco Madero, an assassinated former president revered by many as a hero of the country's 1910-20 revolution.

"Those who damage the image of Madero, or don't know his history, are doing so unconsciously, or are themselves conservative," Lopez Obrador told reporters at his regular morning news conference, stressing that he sympathizes with the activists but opposes vandalism.

In response, the protesters daubed paint on portraits of more historic figures. Standing in front of one of the painted-over portraits, one feminist activist denounced Lopez Obrador for what she described as his misplaced sense of outrage.

More than 70,000 people have been reported missing in Mexico since the country's military was deployed in 2006 to confront organized crime. Most are believed to have been kidnapped.
Newspaper headline: For justice, feminist activists occupy Mexico offices