Donald Trump effigy burned in Mexico City during Easter celebrations

The presidential hopeful sparked outrage among Mexicans after pledging to build a 'great, great wall' between Mexico and the US

Hundreds of Mexicans have celebrated Easter by burning effigies of Donald Trump, after the of US presidential candidate’s pledge to build a wall between the two counties sparked outrage in Mexico.

In La Merced, Mexico City, residents yelled “death” and other insults as a giant papier-mâché Trump, sporting a blue suit and his famous tuft of blonde hair, was set alight with exploding fireworks on Saturday evening.

Trump effigies were burnt across the city from the highland area of Puebla to Mexico’s industrial hub of Monterrey, according to local media.

Effigies are burnt during Mexican Holy Week to represent Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus Christ according to the Bible. The effigies are often modelled on unpopular politicians.

Felipe Linares, the artist who made the Trump model, said: “Since he started his campaign and began talking about immigrants, Mexico, and Mexicans, I said I’ve got to get this guy.”

Mexicans burn an effigy of U.S. Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump as they celebrate an Easter ritual (Reuters)

Trump sparked outrage among Mexicans after pledging to build a “great, great wall” between Mexico and the US if he wins the race to the White House – a construction, which he said, would be funded by Mexico.

The billionaire entrepreneur claimed the wall was needed because Mexico is “sending people that have lots of problems, and they are bringing those problems to us”.

“They are bringing drugs and bringing crime and they're rapists,” he added in a speech to supporters last year.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has said his country will not pay for the wall, while former President Vicente Fox compared the business tycoon to Hitler.

Trump’s anti-Mexican immigration rhetoric has led Mexico City’s lawmakers to urge the federal government to take action to ban Trump after they unanimously voted to stop him entering the country.

Judas effigies are burnt by local people in several Latin American countries, and anthropologists say the practice serves to unite communities around a common enemy.

In addition to Trump, effigies of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the notorious drug cartel leader who escaped from a high security and was recaptured in January, and an Isis symbol were also burnt during the celebrations, CNN reports.

Additional reporting by Reuters