MEXICO CITY -- President Felipe Calderon on Sunday urged Mexicans to fight an escalating crime wave, one day after tens of thousands protested an upsurge across the country of murders, kidnappings and other acts of violence.

Violence has spiked across Mexico since Calderon, who took office at the end of 2006, launched a crackdown on drug trafficking and related attacks, including the deployment of more than 36,000 soldiers across the country.

Some 2,700 people across the country have died in gangland-style killings so far this year, more than in all of 2007 -- including 18 decapitations over the past four days, according to national media.

Mexico has also overtaken Colombia and Iraq with its kidnapping record.

The recent assassination of a Mexico City teenager kidnapped from a wealthy family, in which police were involved, was the trigger for the mass protests.

"Without a stronger society, there won't be a police to defend against crime," Calderon said in a statement to the press Sunday, calling for the creation of citizens' committees to denounce violence in all Mexican states and large municipalities.

The groups would "serve to denounce (crimes) and promote a culture of participation and denunciations," Calderon said, after meeting protest organizers from businesses and citizens groups.

Citizens in towns and cities across the country's 32 states took part in Saturday's "Iluminemos Mexico" or "Let's Light Up Mexico" protests, dressed in white and carrying candles, to show a united front against violence.

Some 200,000 protested in Mexico City, police said, while more than 84,000 demonstrated in other towns and cities, according to La Jornada daily.

Calderon said that most of the proposals brought to him by the march organizers were already included in some 80 promises made at a national security summit 10 days ago.

Those included a purge of corrupt police, and the creation of a national citizen's observatory to increase public vigilance.

Calderon also admitted authorities had been guilty of "incompetence or outright corruption."

"We are very satisfied with the result of this meeting. We believe it's an important step," said Alberto Nunez, president of one of the citizen groups, Society in Movement.

"The president read each of our demands and promised what he could promise and explained his answers to other points," he added.

Calderon also promised create a national map of delinquency, Nunez said.

Organizers had hoped to equal the turnout at a 2004 march, when nearly a half million people protested kidnappings and insecurity. The demonstrations forced the government to carry out purges of the notoriously corrupt police and other reforms, which showed a short-term improvement.

One rights group has reported 400 kidnappings so far this year in Mexico, compared with 438 for the whole of last year and estimates are that there may be two or three kidnappings for each reported case.