Student Protesting Over Missing Students Loot Supermarkets in Guerrero, Mexico

Students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Normal School attacked and looted several supermarkets in Chilpancingo, the capital of the southern Mexican state of Guerrero, to protest the disappearance of 43 classmates last month.

The students, many wearing masks and kerchiefs over their faces, looted an Aurrera company store Saturday with the assistance of students from other schools, filling dozens of carts with food, appliances, clothing and personal care products, an Efe reporter confirmed on the scene.

The protesters gave away some of the goods to passersby and took the rest back to the school, where relatives of the missing students are awaiting news on progress made in the official search.

The students looted a Comercial Mexicana supermarket and tried to steal goods from another store but were stopped by riot police.

Municipal police fired at students on the night of Sept. 26 at the behest of then-Iguala Mayor Jose Luis Abarca, and his wife, Maria de los Angeles Pineda, suspected Guerreros Unidos drug cartel operators who are now fugitives, Attorney General Jesus Murillo said.

Six people died that night, including three trainee teachers; 25 were wounded; and 43 others were detained by police and turned over to a Guerreros Unidos lieutenant identified as “Gil.”

Students, relatives of the missing and other groups have staged increasingly violent protests to pressure officials into finding the missing students.

The whereabouts of the youths is unknown because the 52 suspects detained by authorities, including purported Guerreros Unidos leader Sidronio Casarrubias, do not include Gil or two other suspected cartel members who allegedly received the students from the hands of police.

Protesters recently burned a section of the Guerrero Government Palace, Chilpancigo City Hall and the Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, offices, while the offices of the fugitive former mayor of Iguala were also burned.

Published in Latino Daily News