Mexico holds rallies for missing students

The Friday demonstrations were organized and led by the parents and relatives of the missing students.

"We want them alive," the protestors chanted as they carried huge portraits of the disappeared students and a gigantic Mexican flag painted in black.

Hundreds of people also marched to a military base in the city of Iguala and spray-painted graffiti on the walls.

The students of a teacher training college in the southwestern Guerrero state went missing on September 26 after they were allegedly abducted by police in Iguala. The police handed them over to hitmen from a local gang who the authorities say killed the students. They then allegedly burned the bodies.

Public prosecutors say the police acted on an order from the mayor of Iguala, who is among dozens of suspects arrested in connection with the disappearance of the students.

The case has sparked widespread protests against corruption and violence across Mexico, with some demonstrators demanding the resignation of President Enrique Pena Nieto.

Last month, Mexican officials handed over the burned remains of several bodies to forensics experts after they were discovered at a landfill site and river in Guerrero.

Only one student has so far been identified from charred remains, leaving little hope for the 42 others.

shs/se (AFP, AP, Reuters)