MEXICO CITY — A group of anti-gentrification protesters vandalized the contemporary art museum of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) on Sunday, July 20, as demonstrations against rising housing prices and the growing displacement of local residents continue across the city.Black bloc protesters graffitied and broke windows on the campus before arriving at the cultural center, which houses the Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC), a concert hall, several theatres, and other facilities, including the Julio Torri Bookstore, which they broke into and ransacked. Protesters smashed the glass balustrade surrounding the museum’s angled façade and cracked half a dozen tempered glass panels, which dangled near a small pile of burning books on the esplanade while others graffitied Rufino Tamayo’s monumental outdoor sculpture “La Espiga” (1980). Protesters did not gain entry to the museum, and no other artworks sustained damage. Protesters smashed the museum’s glass balustrade and panels.Shards of broken glass strewn outside the museum entranceAccording to one of the organizers, Náme Villa del Ángel, the protest was not meant to arrive at the UNAM’s campus, but had branched off from the planned route after being harassed and kettled by riot police. The previous day, organizers had explicitly called for a peaceful protest on social media, citing the possibility that the march might face a smear campaign. Police, who do not usually enter the campus because of the university’s self-governing status — although they are not legally barred from doing so — were no longer on the scene when demonstrators arrived at the MUAC. The UNAM, Mexico’s largest university and an important civic symbol, was on a three-week summer break, with the campus sitting largely empty.The extent of the damage, and a perceived incongruity between the cause of the march and the museum’s public mission, generated a local news avalanche. A group of notable academics and artists, including Graciela de la Torre, a former MUAC director, issued a statement on July 22 condemning the events and demanding “the origin of these acts of vandalism be clarified.”“We are fighting for dignified housing for Mexicans,” reads a protest sign.Among the signatories was artist Magali Lara, whose ongoing career retrospective at the MUAC is visible from the gallery windows facing the esplanade. “It looks more like ‘shock groups’ than a real protest,” said Lara, referring to the historic use of paid groups to subvert righteous causes in Mexico. “I think it is very dangerous that the UNAM or any other public institution be exposed in this manner to groups that are bent, it appears to me, on destruction.”The most infamous of Mexico’s shock groups was the Halcones (“Falcons”), a paramilitary group involved in the Corpus Christi massacre of June 10, 1971, when a student protest in favor of university self-governance ended in bloodshed. The “Halconazo” marked the beginning of the period known as the “dirty wars,” a time of increased social repression in the country.Caution tape surrounds the area near Rufino Tamayo’s sculpture outside MUAC.Supporters of the anti-gentrification movement framed the events within the context of a city-wide dispute over public space, water, and housing. “There is a lot of anger, there is a lot of outrage,” said Villa del Ángel. “Contemporary art represents elitism and an elitization of spaces that were initially created for the working class, like the UNAM.”The impact of gentrification in Mexico City has been felt profoundly by many of its residents, and its root cause is a topic of heated political debate. A measurable increase in demand for short-term rentals — especially through Airbnb — in centrally located, trendy neighborhoods has fueled a perception that so-called “digital nomads,” who work from the city remotely and earn in stronger currencies than the Mexican peso, drive the issue, displacing less affluent renters to the city’s periphery.Graffiti on the floor reads “Mexico for Mexicans.”This is the second time in less than a year that the MUAC’s building has been targeted during a demonstration. Last fall, an exhibition by Argentinean artist Ana Gallardo generated protests for its inclusion of derogatory language toward elderly sex workers. The museum apologized, removed two works from view, and organized a series of public programs in collaboration with the aggrieved parties.While sympathetic to the anti-gentrification movement, Lara is skeptical that the recent protests will help the issue.“We live in a complicated moment. But that does not justify the destruction of an institution whose function has to do with learning, connection, critique, and dialogue,” she said. “The MUAC may have many flaws, but not these.”Protesters graffitied poster stands and banners.Graffiti on the bookstore windowSigns read “Housing is a right, not a business” and “Dignified housing for workers.”