Thousands of Mexicans marched in Mexico City on Saturday (September 26) to mark 12 years since the disappearance of 43 college students, a case that shocked the country and became a symbol of Mexico's human rights crisis.

The victims' families marched along Reforma Avenue demanding truth and justice, as the fate of the students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College remains unknown. They disappeared on September 26, 2014, in the southern state of Guerrero.

Protesters included student teachers who travelled from different states across the country, recognisable by their shaved heads, according to Mexican media.

The Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts, or GIEI, said in its initial reports that authorities allegedly colluded with police, members of the armed forces, and organised crime groups.

But despite dozens of arrests, the finding of bone fragments belonging to three students, and government promises, no one has ever been convicted in connection with the case.

In August, former Guerrero Governor Ángel Aguirre was arrested for allegedly ordering the destruction of evidence that could have helped clarify the students' whereabouts.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (SEPTEMBER 26, 2026) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. PROTESTERS GATHERED IN FRONT OF ANGEL OF INDEPENDENCE MONUMENT, CARRYING PLACARDS WITH IMAGES OF DISAPPEARED STUDENTS

2. PERSON HOLDING LIT CANDLE

3. RELATIVES OF THE 43 DISAPPEARED STUDENTS MARCHING

4. RELATIVE OF DISAPPEARED STUDENT LOOKING ON

5. RELATIVE OF DISAPPEARED STUDENT HOLDING ONTO SHIRT WITH HIS IMAGE

6. PEOPLE MARCHING FOR DISAPPEARED STUDENTS

7. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MARCH PARTICIPANT WHO TRAVELLED FROM OAXACA, MARTÍN VELASCO, SAYING:

"Today marks 12 years since the disappearance of the 43 Ayotzinapa students, and I believe that both the Guerrero state government and the federal government must provide answers, because we do not have... or the parents do not have any information. Where are their children after 12 years? It is not possible that more than a decade has passed and we still have no information."

8. PROTEST MARCH ADVANCING

9. MARCH PARTICIPANTS COUNTING UP TO 43 AND SHOUTING (Spanish): "Justice"

10. SIGN WITH TEXT, READING (Spanish): "We are memory, 43, we want justice"

11. SANDALS OF STUDENTS TAKING PART IN PROTEST

12. VARIOUS OF STUDENTS PROTESTING HOLDING SIGN WITH TEXT, READING (Spanish): "May the eyes of the disappeared haunt your dreams and may the cries of their mothers not let you sleep. September 26. They were taken alive, we want them back alive. Truth and justice."

13. PERSON HOLDING IMAGE

14. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MARCH PARTICIPANT, OSVALDO HERRERA, SAYING:

"To raise awareness among other people about the importance of remembering that state violence must not be imposed on people. It is a struggle that continues to this day. And as long as this situation continues, we will keep raising our voices."

15. PERSON AT PROTEST

16. VARIOUS OF STUDENTS MARCHING, CHANTING SLOGANS

17. PEOPLE MARCHING DURING PROTEST FOR DISAPPEARED STUDENTS

18. SIGN WITH TEXT, READING (Spanish): "43+: The government covers up for the guilty military"

19. PROTESTERS ARRIVING AT MEXICO CITY'S ZÓCALO

20. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FATHER OF DISAPPEARED STUDENT JOSÉ ÁNGEL NAVARRETE GONZÁLEZ, EMILIANO NAVARRETE, SAYING:

"(We ask the Mexican government) to honour the commitments they have made, because for us they have always had, and still have, the power to give us truth and justice. As we have told them, it is in their hands, because the only thing we want to find is the truth. It was the government itself that took our children, because there is no other explanation. The Mexican government was responsible for this crime against humanity, and that is why it has not been solved."

21. STUDENTS HOLDING BANNER

22. STUDENTS PROTESTING

23. PROTEST WITH CATHEDRAL IN BACKGROUND