MEXICO CITY, Sept 4, (AP): After protesters blocked the entrance to Mexico’s Congress on Tuesday in an attempt to stop a controversial judicial overhaul, lawmakers took the first steps to jam through the proposal at a nearby gymnasium. The plan would make judges stand for election, something critics say would deal a severe blow to the independence of the judiciary and the system of checks and balances.

The overhaul has fueled a wave of protests by judges, court employees and students across Mexico in recent weeks, and reached another inflection point on Tuesday when protesters strung ropes across entrances to the lower house of Congress to block legislators from entering. That came as the country's Supreme Court voted 8-3 to join strikes, adding more weight to the protests.

"The party with the majority could take control of the judicial branch, and that would practically be the end of democracy,” said protester Javier Reyes, a 37-year-old federal court worker. "They want to own Mexico.” Despite that, lawmakers from Mexico’s governing party, Morena, and their allies appeared determined to quickly pass the reform.

Unable to meet at the congressional building, they instead gathered in a sweltering gymnasium about 3 miles (5 kilometers) away to begin the voting process. The party's strong majority in a recently inaugurated Congress is paving the way for the reform to sail through the process with relative ease. The proposal was met by hours of fierce debate Tuesday night after workers laid out grapes, juices and other snacks in a congressional session reminiscent of a summer camp.

As Morena politicians said they were building a justice system that would be an example globally, opposition lawmakers from the National Action Party (PAN) railed on the governing party. "We should inaugurate a wall of shame that says: ‘Today begins the fall of our Republic.’ And it should have the date and all the faces of the Morena congressmen,” shouted Paulina Rubio Fernández, a PAN congresswoman, surrounded by other members of her party.