Protests Over Disappeared Mexican Students Intensify

Masked demonstrators set fire to the door of Mexico City’s ceremonial presidential palace while protesting the Mexican government’s announcement that the 43 college students missing since September were killed by a drug gang and burned in a pyre of branches and tires.

The demonstrations were largely peaceful until the end, when a number of protestors broke away and tore down the fences around the palace and set its door on fire, The Guardian reports. Riot police clashed with demonstrators before clearing the scene.

Anger over the disappearance of the students, who are believed to have been turned over to the drug gang Guerreros Unidos following an attack by corrupt police offers, has been directed toward the government and its handling of the case since it took over the investigation from state officials after 10 days.

Attendees chanted “It was the state” to protest the apparent internal corruption within the government that surrounds the case; the mayor of Iguala, where the students went missing, has allegedly had ties to the drug gang since he first took office.

Many are calling for President Enrique Peña Nieto and Attorney General Jesús Murillo Karam to resign.

[The Guardian]

See Mexico's Protests Over the Murder of 43 Students