Fury over Mexican 'massacre' boils over

Mexicans furious at the presumed massacre of 43 students set fire to the ruling party's headquarters in Guerrero state and briefly took a police commander prisoner on Tuesday as growing protests rocked Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto's government.

Riot police clashed with protesters in running street battles as black smoke billowed from the white two-story office of the Institutional Revolutionary Party in Chilpancingo.

Violent protests have erupted in Mexico since authorities announced on Friday that gang hit men had confessed to murdering the students and incinerating their bodies after corrupt police handed over the 43 young men in September.

About 1,000 people, led by students and members of the teachers union, marched in Chilpancingo before throwing stones and firebombs at the police.

Three officers and two journalists, including a photographer working for AFP, were injured after being struck by rocks, a civil protection official said.

"The vandalizing assault on our building is more than an attack against this political party. It is an aggression against Guerrero's society and represents a threat to people that should not be repeated or left unpunished," the party said.

Workers fled the building, which had undergone renovations after it was set on fire last year by protesters angry at a controversial education reform.

Tuesday's protesters grabbed Juan Jose Gatica, the state's deputy public security chief, and held him for several hours before handing him to a local human rights group.

Roman Hernandez, speaking for the Human Rights Center of Tlachinollan Mountain, said the officer was released on condition that two detained teachers be freed, but the pair had yet to be let go.

Manuel Martinez, a spokesman for the families of the 43, said after another disappointing meeting with the country's attorney general and interior minister that more protests would come.

"We are tired of the same speeches. We want the 43 back alive," Martinez said after the talks in Chilpancingo's airport. "The protests will continue. We will take away the powers of the political parties."

(China Daily 11/13/2014 page12)