News / Mexico

Several injured in clashes between people, police in Mexico

Sunday, 29 March 2015 8:51 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 29 March 2015 8:51 AM ]

Police officers check a passengers bus destroyed at the Chilpancingo-Tixlta road, in Chilpancingo, Guerrerro State, Mexico on March 28, 2015. © AFP

Several Mexicans have been injured in clashes between police and people protesting the disappearance of 43 students in the southern state of Guerrero in September last year.

The clashes erupted on Saturday when police began arresting the student protesters in the city of Chilpancingo in Guerrero. The protesters were planning on traveling to Zumpango city to join a demonstration marking six months since the disappearance of the students.

The protesters threw stones at security forces after police used tear gas to disperse them.

The angry students, who were from the same teachers training college which saw the kidnapping and murder of 43 students, also attacked a police station and set cars on fire.

Mexico has witnessed nationwide violent protests in recent months over the disappearance of the students amid allegations of political and police corruption.

Relatives and friends of the 43 missing students from Ayotzinapa hold their portraits in Mexico City on March 26, 2015, during a march to mark six months of their disappearance.

On September 26, 2014, some 43 student teachers disappeared in the city of Iguala in Guerrero following an attack by police forces suspected of having links to drug gangs. The incident took place during a protest over teachers’ rights.

On January 27, Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said that the “historical truth” was that the students were murdered in Guerrero in September 2014 after corrupt police handed them over to the gang.

The parents of the victims, however, reacted angrily to Karam’s announcement, saying that without proof, they would continue to believe their children were still alive.

The families insist that there has been a lack of conclusive forensic results.

Human rights groups also questioned Karam’s conclusions, saying the probe relied too much on witnesses.

The remains of only one of the students, identified as Alexander Mora, have been identified after his badly burnt bones were sent to a laboratory in Austria for DNA analysis. The laboratory, however, announced that it was not possible to identify any others due to the bad condition of the remains said to belong to them.

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