The soldiers who lent a high-powered rifle to civilians in the last civic-military parade on September 16 for Independence Day, in the center of Mexico City, were arrested according to a statement issued by the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena).
The federal agency says that the military personnel who lent the unloaded weapon to the attendees, some of them minors, committed an offense based on the Discipline Law of the Mexican Army and Air Force, as well as the Regulation General of Duties of the Mexican Army.
In the information, the National Defense does not detail the time of arrest or the number of soldiers arrested.
“You are informed that the sanction imposed on the military personnel who lent a rifle to the population in the military parade on September 16, 2022, was a disciplinary correction consisting of an arrest, in accordance with the Law of Discipline of the Army and Force Mexican Airlines and the General Regulation of Duties”.
On the morning of September 16, on Pino Suárez Avenue, the Gran Diario de México captured on video how, prior to the parade, a couple of soldiers from the Arms and Military Vehicles Assembly Corps were lending an unloaded rifle to any civilian who asked for it, to pose with it and take selfies.
In the images captured by the media outlet, it can be seen how some people even played with the weapon, simulating that they were firing it.
Immediately, the video went viral on social networks, where users criticized that the military had lent the assault rifle, as they pointed out that it meant a clear violation of military discipline, while others indicated that the weapon was unloaded and did not generate any danger and that they were only looking for a souvenir of the parade.
