Workers have thrown up a wooden wall around Mexico City's iconic Angel of Independence monument after feminists defaced it with graffiti during a violent protest over a string of alleged rapes by police.

The deputy director of artistic patrimony at the National Fine Arts Institute said at the base of the statue Saturday that officials are assessing the damage to the Angel and other points in the capital that protesters attacked Friday night.

Protests erupted this week over a perception that city officials were not adequately investigating the rape accusations. Both victims were teenagers.

A masked protester spray paints a bus station during a women's protest march sparked by a string of alleged sexual attacks by police officers, in Mexico City, Friday, Aug. 16, 2019. On Friday, hundreds of women demonstrated largely peacefully in downtown Mexico City. But some protesters trashed a nearby bus station. This week, an auxiliary policeman was held for trial on charges he raped a young female employee at a city museum. (AP PhotoMarco Ugarte)

A masked protester spray paints a bus station during a women's protest march sparked by a string of alleged sexual attacks by police officers, in Mexico City, Friday, Aug. 16, 2019. On Friday, hundreds of women demonstrated largely peacefully in downtown Mexico City. But some protesters trashed a nearby bus station. This week, an auxiliary policeman was held for trial on charges he raped a young female employee at a city museum. (AP PhotoMarco Ugarte)

On Friday, protesters wrote phrases like "They don't take care of us" in spray paint across the base of the monument, and trashed a major bus station.

Female demonstrators stand outside a defaced police station as they watch the second floor burn, from a fire they started, during a protest sparked by a string of alleged sexual attacks by police officers, in Mexico City, Friday, Aug. 16, 2019. On Friday, hundreds of women demonstrated largely peacefully in downtown Mexico City with pink spray paint and smoke. But some protesters trashed the nearby bus station and a police station. This week, an auxiliary policeman was held for trial on charges he raped a young female employee at a city museum. (AP PhotoEmilio Espejel)

Female demonstrators stand outside a defaced police station as they watch the second floor burn, from a fire they started, during a protest sparked by a string of alleged sexual attacks by police officers, in Mexico City, Friday, Aug. 16, 2019. On Friday, hundreds of women demonstrated largely peacefully in downtown Mexico City with pink spray paint and smoke. But some protesters trashed the nearby bus station and a police station. This week, an auxiliary policeman was held for trial on charges he raped a young female employee at a city museum. (AP PhotoEmilio Espejel)

 Protesters trashed a bus station, spray painting the walls and shattering the windows, on the sidelines of a women's march sparked by a string of alleged sexual attacks by police officers, in Mexico City, Friday, Aug. 16, 2019. On Friday, hundreds of women demonstrated largely peacefully in downtown Mexico City with pink spray paint and smoke. This week, an auxiliary policeman was held for trial on charges he raped a young female employee at a city museum. (AP PhotoMarco Ugarte)

Protesters trashed a bus station, spray painting the walls and shattering the windows, on the sidelines of a women's march sparked by a string of alleged sexual attacks by police officers, in Mexico City, Friday, Aug. 16, 2019. On Friday, hundreds of women demonstrated largely peacefully in downtown Mexico City with pink spray paint and smoke. This week, an auxiliary policeman was held for trial on charges he raped a young female employee at a city museum. (AP PhotoMarco Ugarte)