Some 2,500 citizens marched in the Guadalajara city center Wednesday evening in solidarity with the 43 students who disappeared after clashing with police in Iguala, Guerrero on September 26.
It is widely believed that some of the students, who were training to be teachers, are among the 34 bodies discovered last weekend in a clandestine hillside grave. They were all burned beyond recognition.
Guerrero Attorney General Inaky Blanco said he believes local police colluded with the Guerreros Unidos gang to “make the students disappear.”
Forensic scientists say it could take between two weeks and two months to identify the bodies. Relatives of the students have provided authorities with DNA samples to speed up the identification process.
The case of the missing students has galvanized public opinion across Mexico and further afield, with simultaneous marches held Wednesday in Mexico City, 21 other Mexican states and 15 foreign countries, including New York, London and Paris.
President Enrique Peña Nieto has vowed to find those responsible and punish them “to the full extent of the law.”
The students all came from the Aytozinapa Rural Teacher Training College, a school renowned for its militancy and use of protest.
According to some local reports, the September 26 confrontation with Iguala police started after students from the college tried to commandeer buses to take them to the commemoration in Mexico City marking the anniversary of the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre.
The situation quickly got out of hand and police officers reportedly opened fire and shot dead two students. By the time the confrontation had been brought under control, six people were dead.
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