March in Mexico City over slain students
AFP
February 27, 2015, 7:20 pm
Mexico City (AFP) - Some 2,500 people marched in Mexico City marking the fifth month since the disappearance of 43 students whom the government says were killed by a police-linked drug gang.
The march ended with a skirmish between police and students, five of whom were arrested for wielding objects that could be deemed as weapons, like sticks and pipes, the secretariat of state for security in the Mexican capital said.
The students were from a teacher's college in Ayotzinapa in the southern state of Guerrero. They died in a night of protests on September 26 after being arrested by police in the nearby town of Iguala and handed over to a drug trafficking gang that killed them, burned their remains and threw them into a river, according to the official government account.
Thursday's march departed from a central plaza in Mexico City and ended up outside the residence of President Enrique Pena, which was surrounded by riot police.
The killings triggered a political crisis for Pena in a country where drug related violence is tragically common, and also prompted unprecedented protest marches.
More than 80,000 people have died in drug related violence in Mexico since 2006 and another 20,000 have gone missing.
Relatives of the students and activist groups reject the government account of the events, noting that only one set of remains from the missing students has been positively identified.
Hundreds of teachers also protested Thursday in the resort city of Acapulco, blocking a major thoroughfare.
Teachers also protested in the neighboring state of Michoacan.
