MEXICO CITY (CN) - On Thursday, about a hundred demonstrators blocked off main arteries of downtown Mexico City to demand justice and accountability from President Claudia Sheinbaum's administration, the ruling Morena party and the Mexican government system as a whole.

The demonstration occurred simultaneously with the yearly Revolution Day military parade, which this year marked 115 years since the beginning of the Mexican Revolution, presenting two differing visions on the state of the country.

The Mexican government shortened the route and changed the time of the parade due to what is becoming known as the country's Generation Z movement.

"Mexico will not go backwards again. Peace and tranquility are the fruits of justice. That is why speech that normalizes violence as a path, that glorify imposition or that seek to restore a country of privileges for the few have no resonance. Those who incite violence are wrong; those who encourage hatred are wrong; those who believe that force replaces justice are wrong," Sheinbaum, who led the parade, said in her speech in Mexico City's Zocalo.

Hours later, demonstrators marched towards the Zocalo from the Angel of Independence but were stopped by hundreds of police in riot gear.

"We are dissatisfied with what happened on the 15th, when many innocent people were arrested for marching peacefully. They were taken into custody unjustly, and one of the girls even had to have 12 staples in her face because the police assaulted her. She had gone to protest peacefully, and the police attacked her," said 23-year-old Sebestian Montiel in an interview on Reforma Avenue.

Montiel is referring to the massive protests on Saturday, when thousands took to the streets to demand justice and an end to government corruption and violence following the assassination of Uruapan Mayor Carlos Manzo on Nov. 1.

At least 120 people were injured in violent clashes between police and protestors. Twenty-nine demonstrators were detained, and on Wednesday, three of them were charged with attempted murder against police officers.

Sheinbaum has attempted to discredit the Saturday demonstrations and Gen Z movement as a whole as financed by opposition party politicians and entrepreneur Ricardo Salinas Pliego.

Members of Gen Z themselves have taken to social media to voice their own concerns within the movement.

This week, Ivan Rejon, the administrator of an Instagram account that helped organize the Saturday demonstrations, said on his new account, after cutting ties with the old one, that calls for Thursday's march were a hoax and set out to delegitimize the movement.

On his personal account, Rejon called Thursday's demonstrations a trap and urged Gen Z demonstrators not to expose themselves to dangerous situations.

Though not completely comprised of young demonstrators, older people marched in solidarity.

"The country is already a prisoner of our government. Young people are disappearing daily. Everyone knows who is taking them - the government and its complicity. We cannot allow this. They are taking away the most valuable thing we have as a country: these young people. We are older adults, but we must defend them. We are few, yes, but the day will come when we will become the majority. The truth will have to come to light," said Gabriela Rivera while marching through Reforma Avenue.

To Carlos Nahum Lagunes Valladares, who is 25 years old, the Gen Z movement is less about Morena opposition but the government system as a whole.

"The march isn't a march against Morena. It's a march against the entire government system that's been screwing us over for more than 100 years," Lagunes Valladares said in an interview Wednesday. Though in favor of the marches as an organically grown movement, he did not attend the march on Thursday.

Lagunes Valladares laments what he sees as a political hijacking of the movement and rejects the phrase "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," referring to Sheinbaum's political opposition, who have taken advantage of the movement for political gain.

"If there's one thing this generation agrees on, it's that everything's screwed up, I mean, the system is collapsing, and not just in Mexico, but internationally. And they say, 'You know, things are changing. You know, we're going to do something different this time.' That's exactly when our desperation kicks in and we say, 'What the hell is going to happen?' You know, if I wanted to have kids, in what future would they live?" said Lagunes Valladares.

He also rejects the idea that violence and corruption are endemic to Mexico, and referenced a common Mexican phrase, "asi es," meaning "that's the way it is."

"One of the main problems is the idea that Mexico as a whole is violent, that that's just the way it is. It doesn't have to be this way. These systems, like organized crime, like the government, aren't built by nature itself; they're built by us. The mindset of the citizenry is vital. It's no use getting rid of the government today if we're going to keep thinking the same way. This is where our generation comes in, the one that will ultimately be in charge at some point in history," said Lagunes Valladares.

The march eventually continued towards the Zocalo, but was snuffed out there too by riot police - though some marchers shouted "this isn't over" as they were dispersed.

Source: Courthouse News Service