Protesters against overhaul plan urge Mexican prez to 'respect democracy'

Thousands demonstrated in Mexico's capital Sunday in the latest opposition to President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador's proposed judicial overhaul and other moves by the governing party that critics say will weaken democratic checks and balances.

Throngs of people, many of them striking federal court workers and judges, ended their march outside the Supreme Court building in the heart of the capital, waving flags reading Judicial independence and Respect democracy."

Right now, we're protesting the reforms, but it's not just the reforms, said lawyer Mauricio Espinosa. Its all of these attacks against the judicial branch and other autonomous bodies. What it does is end up strengthening the executive, the next president.

Following big electoral victories in June by the president's Morena party and its allies, the government has pushed for sweeping changes to Mexico's judicial system, long at odds with Lpez Obrador, a populist who has openly attacked judges and ignored court orders.

His ..