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Cell phone footage from Tuesday shows Sheinbaum speaking with a group of supporters on a street near the National Palace in Mexico City.

In the video, a man approaches Sheinbaum from behind, tries to kiss her on the neck, and puts his hands on her body.

Sheinbaum quickly moved away, and one of her team members intervened, but it was clear she was shaken. The attacker was arrested.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Sheinbaum said, “My view is this: If I don’t file a complaint, what happens to other Mexican women? If they do this to the President, what will happen to all women in our country?”

The Mexican President added, “I decided to file a criminal complaint because this happened to me as a woman, but also because we as women in our country go through the same. It happened to me before, when I was a student, not President.”

She added that she decided to continue the legal process because the suspect allegedly harassed other women in the crowd.

Women’s rights groups and feminist commentators said the incident highlights the entrenched machismo in Mexican society, where some men believe they have the right to attack even the President if she is a woman.

Femicide also remains a major problem in Mexico, with an estimated 98% of gender-based murders going unpunished.