Mexico: Police Attack Parents and Classmates of Ayotzinapa Disappeared

The mothers and fathers of the 43 disappeared teaching college students (normalistas) were attacked with tear gas by federal police on April 25 as they tried to approach the Ministry of the Interior (SEGOB), surrounded by immense and impenetrable metal walls, after waiting for more than an hour for a response to their request for a meeting.

In a statement, they condemn the aggression that left five parents injured from the effects of tear gas that was hurled close to their faces, violating all protocols and causing intense bodily harm.

Almost simultaneously, as they spread word of the attack suffered by the parents of their disappeared classmates, normalistas returning from Chilpancingo to the Normal School were surrounded and attacked by state police at the intersection leading to the municipality of Mártir de Cuilapan, very close to the entrance to the Normal School.

After withdrawing from the Ministry of the Interior, the parents of the 43 normalistas, who remain disappeared after two-and-a-half years, stopped at the +43 Antimonument where they held a blockade, surrounded by those protesting high electricity rates. These protesters then escorted the parents to the encampment for the 43 in front of the Federal Attorney General’s Office (PGR).

Here is the statement released by the Committee of Fathers and Mothers of the 43 Normalistas and by the Students Committee of the Raúl Isidro Burgos Rural Normal School of Ayotzinapa:

Mexico City, April 25, 2017.- One day before marking 31 months since the disappearance of 43 students from the Raúl Isidro Burgos Rural Normal School of Ayotzinapa, the fathers and mothers of the disappeared students were violently removed with tear gas grenades from the Ministry of the Interior (SEGOB) in Mexico City as they were seeking a meeting with the Interior Minister, Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong.

At 11am, a rally was planned in front of the Ministry of the Interior as part of series of actions initiated by the parents to call for the return of their children alive, beginning on April 20 with an indefinite encampment in front of the Federal Attorney General’s Office (PGR), located on Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City.

At the beginning of the rally, a group of parents approached the wall and requested from the Federal Police commanders that a commission be received by the Interior Minister. The commanders responded that they would process the request. After more than an hour without an answer, the parents of the 43 began to increase the pressure by symbolically touching and hitting the metal wall. The Federal Police immediately responded by throwing tear gas grenades, which forced a retreat.

This repression left five parents injured from the effects of tear gas. These parents were assaulted with gas a few centimeters from their face, causing injuries that put their eyes and other organs at risk, according to preliminary medical reports. It should be noted that this manner of launching tear gas violated policies on the use of force.

Likewise, we denounce and condemn the aggression suffered by students from the Ayotzinapa Normal School in Tixtla, Guerrero, at the hands of State Police, as they were returning from spreading information about the aggression suffered by parents in Mexico City. The repression occurred when students returned from Chilpancingo. They were surrounded and assaulted at a gas station at the intersection leading to the municipality of Mártir de Cuilapan, a few meters from their school. These attacks show the intention of the PRI government to create the conditions to close the case. It shows their lack of political will to clarify the case and a callous government that has no interest in truth and justice, that seeks to silence the demands of the parents with repression.

The parents express their unwavering commitment to continue fighting and demanding the return of their children alive. The acts of repression will not inhibit the desire to find the 43. For that reason, the indefinite encampment will continue until there are concrete results in the investigation.

Given all of the above, we mothers and fathers demand:

• The return, alive, of the 43 students from Ayotzinapa,
• The advancing of the investigation along the lines recommended by the GIEI, particularly those having to do with opening an investigation against the Mexican Army’s 27th Infantry Battalion,
• End the repression and criminalization of the fathers and mothers of the 43 students from Ayotzinapa.

SINCERELY

BECAUSE THEY TOOK THEM ALIVE, WE WANT THEM ALIVE!

Parents Committee of the 43 Normalistas from Ayotzinapa

FOR THE LIBERATION OF YOUTH AND THE EXPLOITED CLASS, WE WILL WIN!

Students Committee of the Rural Normal School of Ayotzinapa

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