Mexico City, Mexico - The leftist mayor of Mexico City pledged Wednesday to step up security at the city's Roman Catholic cathedral after the church threatened to cancel Masses there following noisy protests by leftist demonstrators.
The possible cancellation of services - which could be extended to other locations - is part of a monthslong dispute involving supporters of a protest movement in the southern state of Oaxaca and followers of former leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
A group of several dozen demonstrators on Sunday interrupted a Mass at the cathedral celebrated by Cardinal Norberto Rivera. The protesters chanted "assassin" and claimed Rivera had supported federal intervention in the Oaxaca conflict.
Mayor Alejandro Encinas, a member of Lopez Obrador's Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, said clerics had angered protesters by making political statements.
He added, however, that "there is mutual responsibility, both on the part of the clerics and the people who might disagree with the political statements they make."
He said the city had contacted church authorities about plans to provide better security at the towering cathedral in the city's main square.
Police were posted outside the church during the summer after Lopez Obrador's supporters repeatedly interrupted Masses, sometimes engaging in shoving and shouting matches with parishioners or church security guards.