Antimonumento 5J

The Antimonumento 5J is an antimonumento (anti-monument) installed in the Plaza de Armas of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Human rights groups erected the sculpture in front of the State Government Palace to commemorate the protests of 4, 5, and 6 June 2020, during which state police violently repressed demonstrators protesting the death of Giovanni López, who had died in police custody the previous month.

Human rights groups placed the artwork adjacent to Antimonumenta on 5 June 2023. It was never given an official name; it is known as Antimonumento 5J, Antimonumento 5 de Junio, or simply 5J. It features a red-painted number five placed above a letter "J". Hours later, at night, authorities removed the sculpture, citing that its placement was unauthorized. Although judges later ordered its reinstatement, the state government declined to comply, arguing that it posed public safety concerns. In response, human rights groups installed a smaller, removable replica the following month, composed of LED lights and rods.

Background

During the night of 4 May 2020, Giovanni López (c. 1990 – 4 or 5 May 2020), a bricklayer, was arrested outside his family's house in the municipality of Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos, Jalisco. According to reports, police detained him for allegedly not wearing a face mask during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico and for assaulting officers while resisting arrest. Giovanni's brother, Christian, recorded the arrest, capturing footage of officers verbally insulting his family as they placed Giovanni into a police van. Enrique Alfaro Ramírez, the state governor, had made the use of face masks mandatory.

The following day, Christian contacted the municipal president, Eduardo Cervantes, who instructed them to pick Giovanni up at the local police station. There, officials informed Christian that Giovanni had been transferred to the Guadalajara Civil Hospital; upon arrival, he was informed that Giovanni had died. An autopsy later determined that he had died from blunt force trauma to the head and also had a gunshot wound in one of his legs. According to the family, Cervantes offered them 200,000 Mexican pesos (US$9,136) in exchange for not releasing the video of the arrest. They stated they refused the offer and were subsequently threatened with death if the footage was made public.

On 25 May 2020, George Floyd was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis, United States. His death sparked widespread protests across the U.S. and internationally, including in Mexico, where concerns over police brutality were also longstanding. Inspired by the similarities between Floyd's case and that of his brother, Christian sent his video to the media on 1 June. The footage went viral and triggered protests on 4 June in Guadalajara, the capital city of Jalisco. Demonstrators gathered in the city's historic center, where they clashed with police and vandalized the State Government Palace. Police responded with tear gas and arrested 26 people.

Alfaro, member of the Citizens' Movement party, blamed the unrest on political adversaries in the Federal Government and Mexico City Government, both led by the ruling National Regeneration Movement party) claiming they sought to destabilize his administration. Alfaro also denied that Giovanni had been arrested for not wearing a face mask. According to the official police report, the arrest was due to an "administrative offense" because he had allegedly acted aggressively toward officers while under the influence.

The next day, demonstrators gathered to demand the release of individuals detained during the previous day's protest. During the mobilization, groups of plainclothes riot officers conducted arbitrary arrests. Witnesses reported that the officers used electric shocks and threatened to hand detainees over to cartels. While official sources reported 16 arrests, eyewitnesses estimated that at least 80 people were detained. Alfaro claimed that some agents of the Jalisco State Prosecutor's Office had acted in collusion with organized crime and had disobeyed official orders. Authorities later announced that 11 agents had been arrested in connection with the abuses committed during the protest.

On 6 June 2020, demonstrations continued in Guadalajara, with protesters demanding the release of those detained and clarification regarding the whereabouts of up to 38 individuals reported as forcibly disappeared. In response, Governor Alfaro issued a public apology and ordered the release of all detainees. However, reports emerged that some detainees had been abandoned on the outskirts of the city the previous night. The event was later dubbed the "Halconazo tapatío", referencing the 1971 massacre known as "El Halconazo", in which paramilitary groups without their uniforms arbitrarily assassinated protesters in Mexico City, combined with the regional term for "from Jalisco".

History and installation

During a demonstration commemorating the "Halconazo tapatío" on 5 June 2023, various collectives placed an anti-monument in Plaza de Armas, opposite the State Government Palace, and next to the Antimonumenta, a—another anti-monument that symbolizes the demand for justice for women who suffer from violence in Mexico.

The sculpture is a red metal structure that stands 3.4 m (11 ft) tall and weighs over 300 kg (660 lb). It alludes to the 5 June protest through the inclusion of a number five above the letter "J", and it honors Giovanni and those who were repressed during the protests related to his death. At the base of the sculpture is an aluminum plaque with the following text (translated from Spanish):

Although the CNDH [National Human Rights Commission] and the FGR [Attorney General of Mexico] took over the case, the serious human rights violations have not been properly investigated, nor has the damage been repaired. We hold the government of Jalisco responsible for these events, pointing out that disappearances and state impunity persist[.]

The collectives criticized both the FGR for declaring the events outside its jurisdiction and the CNDH for concluding that there were no cases of forced disappearance or torture. The collective #5deJunioMemoria said that Giovanni's case was not an isolated incident, but rather an example of systemic and widespread police brutality in Mexico.……

原文较长，这里只摘了前面一部分，摘自英文维基百科「Antimonumento 5J」（暂时没有中文条目，下面是英文原文），按 CC BY-SA 4.0 使用，去掉了参考文献、外部链接等尾部小节和表格，其余文字未作改动。