Mexico: Policemen arrested over student shootings
On Monday, clashes between Mexican police and students resulted in the deaths of two students in the city of Chilpancingo. (Screencapture: Univision Noticias)
By MANUEL RUEDA
Channel: Latin American Affairs
Ten policemen were arrested on Wednesday for their alleged involvement in Monday’s deadly clashes between students and police in Chilpancingo, according to Guerrero state governor Angel Aguirre.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Aguirre told journalists that he did not order his security forces to shoot at students during Monday’s clashes, in which police used bullets and tear gas to break up a roadblock set up by students from a rural teachers college.
Aguirre also took back statements issued by his - now former - chief prosecutor, who originally said that police had not shot at the students, who were protesting their food subsidies.
“We never denied (that police fired weapons),” Aguirre said. “That would be an absurd and irresponsible thing for my government to do,” he added.
Mexico’s Attorney General opened an investigation into Monday’s shootings, in which two students died. Footage from a security camera at the site, shows Mexican Federal Police and Guerrero State police, some of whom arrived at the scene in civilian clothes,throwing rocks at a group of students, who responded with molotov cocktails. The images also show police detaining students and kicking them as they are on the ground.
Meanwhile, a funeral service was held on Wednesday for one of the victims, 22 year old Jorge Alexis Herrera, in his hometown, Atoyac.
Pictures show Herrera’s friends carrying a coffin in what seems to be a humble neighborhood with unpaved roads and electricity cables dangling above.
“No one will return our son,” Herrera’s father told newspaper Milenio. “What we want is justice and for the government to repair the damage it has done to our family.”
