Students and faculty from a teachers' college in Guerrero state set fire to a government building in Chilpancingo in fury at the disappearance of 43 student teachers believed to have been kidnapped by corrupt police officers working with a drug cartel.
Jose Villanueva Manzanarez, spokesman for Guerrero's government, said the protesting members of a teachers' union initially tried to get into the state congress in Chilpancingo but were repelled by anti-riot police. They then headed to the state government palace.
With the support of hundreds of students from the Ayotzinapa teachers' college, the teachers blockaded the capital building, attacking it with battle bars, rocks and Molotov cocktails, he said.
The violence came more than two weeks after police in Iguala, also in Guerrero state, opened fire on the teacher's college students, killing at least six. Witnesses have said that dozens of students were taken away by police and have not been seen since. Twenty-six local police officers have been detained, and officials are attempting to determine if any of the students are in the mass graves nearby.
The confrontation in Iguala shed light on a widespread problem with local police in Mexico: They are often linked to organized crime. In the case of Iguala, the police who attacked the students were working with the local cartel, Guerreros Unidos, according to testimony of those arrested.
Protesters Burn State Building in Southern Mexico
(via Reddit)
