WATCH: Authorities employ WRESTLERS to enforce mask wearing in public

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and health authorities in Irapuato, central Mexico, took this advice to the extreme, by deploying a gang of ‘lucha libre’ fighters to enforce public mask wearing. 

In an apparent bid to enforce extreme compliance with mask wearing rules in public, authorities in the central Mexican city of over 380,000 residents, roughly 300km from the capital, decided to, playfully, stomp out the problem of non-compliance. 

Footage shared by city hall shows the hell-raising ‘health officers’ on patrol in the local market square.

In the video, the gang consisting of local lucha libre (wrestling) fighters Lepra, Moco, Gargajo, Costal Clown, and García Jr. can be seen roaming the streets, theatrically, ehem... ‘inviting’ people to put their masks on properly, including applying their own face shield in the form of a steel chair to the face.  

The initiative is part of a campaign promoted by the Health Directorate of Irapuato to starkly remind local residents about the importance of wearing masks to help curb the spread of coronavirus infections in the city. 

Some online decried the “state’s control and surveillance system,” which apparently includes the use of “humiliation and force.”

Other less sensitive souls applauded the creative effort to inject a bit of spectacle and fun into public health restrictions. 

“This is how it should have been since the beginning. The response to the problem needs to be proportionate. If the people are stupid, well, f**k em!” wrote one commenter. 

According to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, Mexico has over 1.3 million confirmed cases of Covid-19, resulting in over 119,400 deaths.

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