Thousands march in Mexico to protest disappearance of 43 students

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Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Mexico City on Wednesday night to demand justice for the 43 students who went missing in September.

Joined by the families of the missing students, an estimated 50,000 protestors marched through the streets of the Mexican capital and insisted that the students be returned within two days.

“Alive they took them, alive we want them back,” the crowd chanted at the Angel of Independence where they lit candles as a symbol of hope to find the missing students.

SEE ALSO: Search expands for 43 missing college students in Iguala, Mexico

The students from the Ayotzinapa teachers’ college in the southern state of Guerrero were last seen on Sept. 26. They were rounded up by local police in the city of Iguala and allegedly handed over to a local gang known as Guerreros Unidos.

The Mexican government says it still doesn’t know what happened to the students even though authorities have arrested more than 50 people who were allegedly involved. Among those arrested is gang leader Sidronio Casarrubias Salgado.

Reuters reported that on Wednesday, Mexican Attorney General Jesus Murillo said Iguala Mayor Jose Luis Abarca and his wife Maria de los Angeles Pineda were were “probable masterminds” behind the disappearance of the students.

An arrest warrant was issued for the mayor and his wife, as well as for Iguala police chief Felipe Flores Velazquez. All three individuals have been on the run since the day the students went missing.

Murillo said the mayor ordered police to keep the students from causing a disturbance during an event hosted by his wife. Following orders, police officers stopped the students as they traveled on a bus and opened fire on them, killing six people. The officers then turned over the remaining students to the local gang.

SEE ALSO: Mexican mass graves: A survivor’s story

During the protest in Mexico City on Wednesday, the demonstrators demanded that the federal government do more to try to find the 43 missing students. They also held candles and photos of the students.

EFE reported that when the demonstrators arrived at Mexico City’s main square, known as the Zócalo, some of the parents of the missing students spoke. They said the authorities were to blame for the disappearance of the students.

“They are responsible and they have to bring them back,” one of the parents said, according to EFE.