Video: Tourist beaten with a stick after illegally climbing a Mayan pyramid

Yucatan, Mexico – The video showed a tourist being surrounded and beaten with a stick after climbing a protected Mayan monument in Mexico.

The incident took place on January 29 at the archaeological site of Chichen Itza in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, a popular tourist destination.

Footage recorded by Daniel Fretwell shows the unidentified hiker climbing to the top of the monument known as El Castillo, or the Pyramid of Kukulkan, before being escorted back down the stairs by security. One person is seen punching the man as he leaves. Another person carrying a large stick also hits the tourist.

Fretwell told Storyful that he started filming after he spotted a man running up the pyramid.

“I could hear and see maybe 30 or 40 people screaming, ‘No, no, get down, don’t do this, no.’ People whistled trying to draw the man’s attention to what he was doing wrong,” he said, adding: “After we left, we saw the man being taken away in an unmarked car. The guide told us that he was facing a large fine. ”

The man was reportedly arrested and held for 12 hours before being released.

The director of the Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) told the Mexico Daily Post that the tourist was fined 5,000 pesos ($263) for the incident.

CONNECTED: Video: Tourist surrounded by a crowd after climbing the sacred Mayan pyramid in Mexico

“Tourists must follow INAH safety measures in the archaeological zone in order to preserve the cultural heritage of Mexico, take care of other visitors and enjoy this Mayan heritage,” said INAH Director José Arturo Chab Cardenas.

Climbing the pyramid has been banned since 2008 for conservation reasons, and the United Mexican States Congress has established hefty penalties for such activities in the Federal Monuments and Archaeological, Artistic, and Historic Areas Act.

This follows a similar incident in November 2022, when passers-by surrounded a tourist and poured water over him for climbing the same pyramid.

Local news outlets reported that the tourist was detained “and taken to the nearby town of Piste for questioning.”

This story was reported from Los Angeles. Storyful and FOX News contributed.