(KCEN) -- Mexico officially has a new president.
Enrique Pena Nieto took over as Mexican leader in an inauguration ceremony today.
Former President Felipe Calderon handed over the red, white and green presidential sash to his successor.
The ceremony was interrupted by leftist Congress members who held banners protesting Pena Nieto.
He's promised to restore calm to the country amid deadly violence between drug gangs and security forces.
Meantime, outside the ceremony, protesters fought with police throwing
Molotov cocktails and rocks at steel security barriers denouncing the
president's party.
Pena Nieto campaigned as the new face of
the Institutional Revolutionary Party which ruled for 71 years before
being voted out of the presidency in 2000.
Police responded with tear gas and used fire extinguishers to extinguish the fire bombs.
