Though it started peacefully, many demonstrators turned violent, with some of them accosting Americans and smashing the restaurants, banks and other businesses that cater to them.

Angered by soaring rents they rationally blame on foreigners, hundreds of protesters marched through Condesa and Roma -- two neighborhoods that are particularly popular with Americans living in or visiting Mexico City --  and proceeded to the US embassy and to a metro station. Their signs expressed a variety of sentiments: 

Gringo: Stop Stealing Our Home

Mexico For Mexicans

Pay Taxes, Speak Spanish, Use Pesos Or Get Out Of Here

Death To The Neo-Colonizer

Expat = Gentrifier

Your New Home Is An Invasion

Gentrification = Neo-Colonization

To Gentrify Isn't Progress, It's Dispossession 

We Shouldn't Feel Like Foreigners In Our Own Land

Some of the demonstrators started attacking businesses in Condesa and Roma, smashing windows, spray-painting graffiti, tearing down awnings, vandalizing cars, completely destroying a restaurant patio, and looting. A Starbucks outlet was among the most-damaged properties

As rocks were hurled against the windows by the mob outside, Starbucks customers went prone on the floor

Video captured protesters screaming at American-looking tourists as they sat at a sidewalk eatery, and a man spray-painting KILL A GRINGO on a the wall of a building.

Following the mayhem, Mexico City Governor Carla Brugada issued a lengthy statement, carefully walking a line that combined a condemnation of the violence with her own opposition to gentrification, and a defense of her administration's efforts to promote affordable housing:

"Mexico City does not agree with gentrification...We know that gentrification can exclude those who have lived their entire lives in their neighborhoods, which is why we allocate unprecedented resources to create conditions that allow them to continue developing their life projects in their own communities.

However, we in no way endorse violence to address this issue. We reject violence as a method to resolve conflicts. This city stands for rights and freedoms. We respect demonstrations and social expressions in response to any situation, but not aggression."