PROTESTERS ANGRY AT the alleged massacre of 43 missing Mexican students have blocked access to Acapulco airport.
Thousands of people marched to the Pacific resort’s international airport, with parents and classmates of the students leading the demonstration.
“Nobody goes in, nobody goes out until further instructions,” a masked student, who blocked the entrance with seven other protesters armed with sticks, told AFP.
Felipe de la Cruz, a spokesman for the families of the 43 students, said they would prevent access to the international airport for three hours.
Before reaching the airport, a group of masked protesters clashed with riot police who had tried to block their way, injuring 11 officers, a public security official said. After negotiations, the protesters were allowed to go through.
Many protesters were armed with bats, metal pipes and machetes amid anger over a case that has turned into the biggest crisis of President Enrique Pena Nieto’s administration.
“Pena out! Pena murderer! Stay in China,” they chanted, referring to the president’s controversial decision to travel to a summit in China amid public fury over the crime.
Tourists had to reach the airport by foot, pulling their suitcases behind them.
On Saturday, thousands of people marched in Mexico City, where a group of 20 protesters briefly set fire to the door of the National Palace, which Pena Nieto uses for official ceremonies.
The demonstrations came after authorities announced Friday that gang suspects confessed to killing the 43 students, incinerating their remains and tossing them in a river after receiving them from corrupt police.
Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam has downplayed chances of ever identifying the charred remains, warning that only two bones were salvageable for DNA tests.
Authorities say gang-linked police shot at busloads of students in the Guerrero city of Iguala on September 26, in a night of violence that left six people dead.
Additional reporting: Órla Ryan
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