MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico’s Foreign Ministry has condemned protesters that it said shouted racist comments and distributed anti-migrant leaflets outside its New York consulate last week.
“On Saturday a group of racist, ignorant and xenophobic people were at our consulate in NY,” Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. “We reject and condemn these events.”
Members of a group calling itself Identity Evropa, some dressed as construction workers, demonstrated on Saturday outside the consulate, holding large letters that spelled “Build the Wall.” Identity Evropa has said it is dedicated to defending people of European heritage.
Mexico’s government said it had written a diplomatic note to the U.S. State Department about the incident, which it said worsened the climate for the country’s relationship with the United States.
Identity Evropa said in a statement on Tuesday that the Mexican government tacitly supported illegal immigration to the United States and that the group was a movement for European Americans against mass immigration and globalization.
Photos and video on the group’s Twitter page showed around 45 people at the protest, shouting, ‘Make America Great Again,” a campaign slogan of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Relations between the two countries have been tense since Trump said during his campaign that Mexico was sending criminals and rapists to the United States.
Reporting by Christine Murray
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.