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Iguala protesters fired up

November 11, 2014

Protesters angry over the massacre of 43 students have set fire to a regional headquarters of Mexico's ruling party. Students and members of a teachers' union have marched across the city of Chilpancingo.

https://p.dw.com/p/1DlY5
PRI, Mexico
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. L. de la Cruz

About 200 riot police wearing helmets and bearing shields chased more than 1,000 protesters as black smoke billowed from the two-story headquarters of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in the Guerrero state capital, Chilpancingo. Tuesday's protests and the police response have left at least three people injured so far, including two journalists.

Protests have erupted in Mexico since authorities on Friday said that gang hitmen in league with corrupt police had confessed to murdering 43 students and incinerating their bodies in September, acting on orders given by Iguala Mayor Jose Luis Abarca.

On Monday evening, protesters, including relatives of the slain students, had clashed with police at the main regional airport in Acapulco for about three hours, forcing flight cancellations.

Some have expressed skepticism over the official account of the students' disappearance. Clandestine graves have been somewhat regularly discovered in the state of Guerrero.

The crime has outraged Mexicans and turned into a crisis for President Enrique Pena Nieto, in China for the APEC summit on Tuesday. The president's decision to travel at such a time of turmoil for Mexico has also drawn considerable criticism. On Saturday, a group of about 20 demonstrators briefly set fire to the door of the National Palace in Mexico City.

Last year, protesters set the Guerrero PRI building ablaze over controversial educational measures implemented by the national government.

mkg/msh (Reuters, AFP, dpa)