Mexicans In Protest March Over Students

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Video: Mexicans March For Missing Students

Tens of thousands of people in Mexico City have taken part in a march to protest against the government's inaction over the disappearance of 43 student teachers.

The students disappeared from the southern city of Guerrero in September.

The mainly young crowd carried Mexican flags with black mourning bands replacing the red and green stripes, counting off the numbers from one to 43.

One protester carried a sign attached to fake skull which read: "Out Pena Nieto", in a reference to Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto.

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Gallery: River Searched For Mexico Students

Mexico's federal police on a boat search a river for 43 missing student teachers, who disappeared last month and are feared massacred, in Acatlan, in the southwestern state of Guerrero

The students from a rural teachers college disappeared after a confrontation with police in Iguala, a city about 80 miles (130km) southwest of Mexico City

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Authorities say the attack was ordered by Jose Luis Abarca, the mayor of Iguala, along with his wife and the city's police chief

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Earlier this week authorities said they had arrested four drug gang members involved in the kidnapping of the students. Prosecutors claim corrupt local police delivered the captives to hitmen linked to the local Guerreros Unidos drug ring

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Others held posters that said: "It could have been you or me"; "They could have been mine children or your children"; "In order for evil to triumph, all that's needed is for the good ones to do nothing."

Some marchers chanted: "They took them away alive, and alive we want them back."

A professor from the University of Mexico said: "I am a university professor and any of the students missing in Guerrero could have been one of my students.

"So I came here because of indignation, for basic justice and public morality."

The missing students - who were studying at a rural teachers college in Guerrero - were taken away by police on 26 September after a confrontation in the city of Iguala.

Prosecutors say the students were later handed over to a drug gang, some of whose members have claimed to have killed the youths.

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Gallery: The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall Visit Mexico

The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall receive an official welcome from President Enrique Pena Nieto and the First Lady Anjelica Rivera at the Palacio National, Mexico City, during their tour of Mexico and Colombia

The Prince of Wales joined traditional Sarao dancers during a visit to the Central Plaza in Campeche, Mexico

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Despite a widespread search, authorities have been unable to find any sign of the students.

Many of their parents joined the Mexico City march on Wednesday, carrying hand-painted portraits of the young men.

The relative of one said: "We are angry at the answers we get every day.

"They have more than 3,000 police officers in Iguala, in the northern region of Guerrero, but they are useless, because they continue to search without any results."

The Mexican government estimates 22,322 people have disappeared since the start of the country's drug war in late 2006.

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