Coahuila State Police Attack, Disperse Protest by Workers from AHMSA Steel Company

ByJared Laureles, Jessica Xantomila, Alexia Villaseñor and Leopoldo Ramos

This article by Jared Laureles, Jessica Xantomila, Alexia Villaseñor and Leopoldo Ramos originally appeared in the May 12, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Elements of the Coahuila state police evicted a group of former workers of Altos Hornos de México (AHMSA) who were demonstrating on federal highway 57 to demand the government’s intervention in the prompt sale of the steel company, and thus resolve the payment of their salaries and severance pay, which have been owed to them for more than three years.

The events resulted in a confrontation, leaving a preliminary toll of nine detainees and several injured, as they were beaten, “some in the ribs and others with head injuries,” said Julián Torres Ávalos, president of the Labour Defense Group of AHMSA Workers.

In an interview, he reiterated his request for President Claudia Sheinbaum to intervene directly so that the sale of the steel mill located in Monclova, Coahuila, which stopped producing steel in December 2022, can be finalized.

Although since that date they have held peaceful protests in plazas, marches and sit-ins in Mexico City demanding labor justice, yesterday some 300 former AHMSA workers decided to close the Mexico-Piedras Negras federal highway for about two hours in its Monclova-Saltillo section, which is strategic for regional and national transport.

Desperate due to profound economic and health strain that impacts their families, the workers denounced that while the bankruptcy process is stalled, they face emotional and psychological consequences, as well as chronic illnesses.

Torres Ávalos pointed out that the legal deadline for the second district court in matters of commercial insolvency proceedings to inform its decision regarding whether it would approve the new project for the sale of assets proposed by the bankruptcy trustee expired a week ago.

“The authorities have to act, they cannot remain silent in the face of this situation, and here violence has already erupted because of this problem that is not being resolved, until now (yesterday) we had made peaceful movements,” he said.

He indicated that they began their demonstration at 9 a.m., but state police arrived at the scene to clear the road; this, he said, led to a confrontation, as they exchanged pushes, blows, and threw stones.

He reported that the nine detainees were released yesterday, while an assessment of the damages to the injured is still underway.