Opposition politicians flocked online to Twitter to chastise the federal government’s reply to the European Parliament (EP) after it passed a resolution that condemned the harassment and killing of journalists and human rights defenders in Mexico and called on authorities to refrain from making statements that could stigmatize such people.

In a statement penned by President López Obrador and other officials, the government accused European lawmakers of “corruption, lies and hypocrisy” and described them as “sheep.”

National Action Party (PAN) president Marko Cortés said that his party rejected and regretted the statement published by the government, which also said that the work of journalists is respected and called on European lawmakers to do away with their “meddlesome obsession.”

“Mexico must respect the human rights and democracy clauses of the global agreement,” Cortés wrote, referring to the free trade agreement between Mexico and the European Union.

“With the same lies and cynicism as always, the shepherd of the Morena party, Labor Party and Green Party lawmakers dares to speak of sheep. Someone tell the president that the vote in the European Parliament was 607 votes in favor of the journalists and just two against,” Cortes said.

Democratic Revolution Party president Jesús Zambrano said the response to the EP is indicative of López Obrador’s “authoritarianism and delirium” as well as his inability to accept criticism.

“Mexico is in the international spotlight due to violence and its despot ruler,” he wrote.

The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) said on its official Twitter account that the government’s missive to European lawmakers is a “clear reflection” of what the López Obrador administration is: “an embarrassment to Mexico.”

Martha Tagle, a former federal deputy for the Citizens Movement (MC), said she initially believed the document was fake.

“The lord of the [National] Palace believes that he can throw the same tantrums in front of the European Parliament as he throws in his morning press conferences. … What an embarrassment,” Tagle wrote.

“This trash can only be the product of a sick mind,” tweeted Gabriel Quadri, a PAN deputy and former presidential candidate.

MC Deputy Jorge Álvarez Máynez called the statement the worst document ever signed by the Mexican government, while even federal government ally Gerardo Fernández Noroña, a Labor Party deputy, was critical of the use of the word “sheep.”

“I share in essence what is set out by the document … [but] I think using the word ‘sheep’ is a mistake,” Fernández said.

With reports from Reforma