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Earlier in the week, some Gen Z social media influencers said they no longer backed the protests, while mainstream figures like former President Vicente Fox published messages of support.

Thousands of people in Mexico City have taken part in protests against growing crime, corruption and impunity, which, though organised by members of Generation Z, ended up being mostly backed and attended by older supporters of opposition parties.

Saturday’s march was attended by people from several age groups, with supporters of the recently killed Michoacan Mayor Carlos Manzo, attending the protest wearing the straw hats that symbolise his political movement.

Earlier in the week, some Gen Z social media influencers said they no longer backed Saturday’s protests, while mainstream figures like former President Vicente Fox and Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego published messages in support of the protests.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also accused right-wing parties of trying to infiltrate the Gen Z movement, and of using bots on social media to try to increase attendance.

In several Asian and African countries this year, members of the Gen Z demographic group have organised protests against inequality, democratic backsliding and corruption.

The largest Gen Z protests took place in Nepal in September, following a ban on social media, and led to former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s resignation.

Madagascar also saw major protests that same month, initially driven by severe, prolonged water and electricity shortages that exposed wider government failures and corruption. The weeks of unrest led to the dissolution of the government, forcing President Andry Rajoelina to flee the country last month and regime change.

Saturday’s protests quickly turned violent, as “protesters accuse the federal government of repression”, reported Mexican news outlet El Universal.

Security forces fired tear gas and threw stones at protesters as they entered the perimeter of the National Palace, located in the city’s main square of Zocalo, El Universal reported.

“With their shields and stones, they [security forces] physically assaulted young people demonstrating in … Zocalo, who ended up injured and assisted by doctors who were also marching and ERUM [Emergency Rescue and Medical Emergencies Squadron] personnel,” said El Universal.

Police officers, after “chasing and beating protesters on the Zocalo plaza” for a few minutes, “forced people to leave the area and dispersed the last remaining protesters”, it added.

In Mexico, many young people say they are frustrated with systemic problems like corruption and impunity for violent crimes.

“We need more security,” said Andres Massa, a 29-year-old business consultant, who carried the pirate skull flag that has become a global symbol of Gen Z protests, told The Associated Press news agency.

Claudia Cruz, a 43-year-old physician who joined the protests, said she was marching for more funding for the public health system, and for better security because doctors “are also exposed to the insecurity gripping the country, where you can be murdered and nothing happens”.

President Sheinbaum still has high approval ratings despite a recent spate of high-profile murders, including that of Manzo.

Jack Miller, an associate professor of political science at Portland State University, discusses how the narratives from both major political parties are likely to shift following the end of the US government shutdown.

BREAKINGBREAKING,

The successful vote means the long-delayed bill will now be passed on to President Trump to sign into law.

The House of Representatives has passed a federal government spending package, clearing the final hurdle and bringing an end to the longest government shutdown in United States history – at least for now.

In a vote held late on Wednesday evening in the Republican-held House, the bill was backed by 222 lawmakers – including six Democrats – while 209 voted against it, including two Republicans.

The long-delayed bill will now be passed on to President Donald Trump to sign into law.

On Monday night, the upper chamber of Congress had approved the spending package by a vote of 60 to 40 to fund the US government through January 30, reinstating pay to hundreds of thousands of federal workers after six gruelling weeks.

All but essential government services had ground to a halt amid the shutdown.

The breakthrough came following negotiations last weekend that saw seven Democrats and one independent agree to back the updated spending package and end the shutdown, which entered its 42nd day on Tuesday.

Crucially, however, the deal has not resolved one of the shutdown’s most central issues – healthcare subsidies for 24 million Americans under the Affordable Care Act, which the Trump administration planned to cut.

For weeks, Democrats repeatedly blocked the bill’s passage in Congress, saying the measure was necessary to force the government to address escalating healthcare costs for low-income Americans.

Shortly before Wednesday’s vote, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson accused his Democratic colleagues of using American citizens as “leverage” in their “political game”, as he denounced them for preventing the resolution’s passage in September.

“Since that time, Senate Democrats have voted 14 times to close the government. Republicans have voted a collective 15 times to open the government for the people, and the Democrats voted that many times to close it,” he said.

As part of the deal breaking the impasse, Senate Republicans agreed to hold a vote on the issue by December, raising fears there could be another shutdown in January.

The agreement had also provoked anger among Democrats, who preferred to keep holding out, including Illinois Governor JB Pritzker – considered a contender for the 2028 presidential election – who called it an “empty promise” earlier this week.

David Smith, an associate professor at the University of Sydney’s United States Studies Centre, also described the agreement as “just a stopgap arrangement”.

“The deal that they’ve reached means most of the government will shut down again in January if they can’t come to another agreement,” he told Al Jazeera earlier this week.

Democrats who supported the deal were Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin from Illinois, John Fetterman from Pennsylvania, Catherine Cortez Masto and Jackie Rosen from Nevada, Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen from New Hampshire, and Tim Kaine from Virginia.

Angus King, an independent from Maine, also backed the deal.

This is a breaking news story. More to follow shortly.

There have already been numerous flight delays as the FAA slows down or stops traffic when it is short of controllers.

United States Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has said that there could be chaos in the skies next week if the government shutdown drags on and air traffic controllers miss a second paycheck.

Duffy made his comments on Tuesday as the US government shutdown dragged into its 35th day, matching the shutdown in US President Donald Trump’s first term as president and which was the longest at the time.

There have already been numerous delays at airports across the country — sometimes hours long — because the Federal Aviation Administration slows down or stops traffic temporarily anytime it is short on controllers. Last weekend saw some of the worst staff shortages, and on Sunday, flights at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey were delayed for several hours.

Duffy and the head of the air traffic controllers union have both warned that the situation will only get worse the longer the shutdown continues and the financial pressure continues to grow on people who are forced to work without pay. FAA employees already missed one paycheck on October 28. Their next payday is scheduled for next Tuesday.

“Many of the controllers said, ‘A lot of us can navigate missing one paycheck. Not everybody, but a lot of us can. None of us can manage missing two paychecks,’” Duffy said. “So if you bring us to a week from today, Democrats, you will see mass chaos. You will see mass flight delays. You’ll see mass cancellations, and you may see us close certain parts of the airspace, because we just cannot manage it, because we don’t have air traffic controllers.”

Most of the flight disruptions so far during the shutdown have been isolated and temporary. But if delays become more widespread and start to ripple throughout the system, the pressure will mount on US Congress to reach an agreement to end the shutdown.

Normally, airlines strive to have at least 80 percent of their flights depart and arrive within 15 minutes of when they are scheduled. Aviation analytics firm Cirium said that since the shutdown began on October 1, the total number of delays overall has not fallen significantly below that goal because most of the disruptions so far have been no worse than what happens when a major thunderstorm moves across an airport.

But on Sunday, only about 56 percent of Newark’s departures were on time, and the Orlando airport reported that only about 70 percent of its flights were on time, according to Cirium.

As of midday Tuesday, there have been 1,932 flight delays reported across the US, according to www.FlightAware.com. That is lower than what is typical, although the FAA did say that flights in Phoenix were being delayed on Tuesday morning because of staffing shortages. Strong winds are also causing delays at the Newark and LaGuardia airports on Tuesday.