Mexico tourist beaten with stick for climbing Chichén Itzá pyramid

Chichén Itzá: A stick-wielding man met the a tourist who had trespassed on the Mexican pyramid. Photo / MerGarza, Twitter

Video has emerged of a tourist being forcibly evicted from a Mexican landmark by bystanders and beaten with a stick.

The Polish tourist was caught on Saturday, climbing the 365 steps of the pyramid in Chichén Itzá for a social media post.

The ancient Mayan pyramid of Kukulkán is a Unesco heritage site, protected by law and the Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH ). It is forbidden to climb it and fines range from $4000 to $8400 for trespassers, depending on the amount of damage caused.

However, this weekend, it was onlookers who meted out punishment for climbing the national treasure.

In the video the trespasser can be seen being marched off the steps by two park workers. At the bottom of the pyramid an angry crowd is waiting for him, one carrying a large stick. The man proceeds to hit the tourist over the head with the plank, yelling: “are you stupid?”

The park workers in white shirts appeared powerless to intervene.

Meredith, who posted the video to Twitter, claimed that the tourist, from Poland had ignored the signs and “rope cordons” barring visitors from climbing the steps.

A spokesperson for the INAH told the Mexico Daily Post that the visitor was fined 5,000 pesos ($412) for his transgression, paid to the municipality of Tinum in Yucatán. The stick wielding man was not charged.

The trespassing tourist was struck with a stick. Photo / MerGarza, Twitter

“Tourists must respect the security measures of the INAH in the archaeological zone to preserve the cultural heritage of Mexico, take care of other visitors and enjoy that Mayan legacy,” said the spokesperson.

Despite the well publicised fines, tourists are regularly caught climbing the steps of the world heritage site. Although there are strict rules against this, in some cases trespassers are met with mob justice at the hands of angry locals and onlookers.

In November a woman, reportedly from Tijuana, was violently mobbed after she was caught taking selfies and dancing on the steps of the monument.

The site of human blood rituals as recently as the 1500s, onlookers chanted “sacrifice, sacrifice!” and spat at the visitor as park officials took her away.

In 2021 a woman, dubbed “Lady Kukulkán,”was fined for spreading her husband’s ashes on the great pyramid.

The tiered pyramid of Kukulkán has 365 steps and acts as an astrological calendar. Each year, at the solstice tourists from around the world flock to the site in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula to watch the shadows at sunset. The sun on the steps create an optical illusion in which the carved stone snakes appear to move.

The 1000-year old temple was added to the Unesco World Heritage list as a place of “Outstanding Universal Value” in 2007. Until 2008 climbing the pyramid was a popular activity for tourists, but this was outlawed to protect the ancient stonework.