STORY: Protesters took to the streets of Mexico City on Friday (September 26) to mark the 11th anniversary of the disappearance and apparent murder of 43 Mexican college students.

Families of the victims, joined by current students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers’ College, led the march. Demonstrators walked from the Angel of Independence to the Zocalo main square, demanding justice and transparency from the Mexican government.

In the 2014 incident, more than 100 students and teachers from Ayotzinapa—located in the city of Iguala, in the state of Guerrero, about 220 kilometers (135 miles) south of Mexico City—were attacked while traveling in several buses en route to the capital to commemorate the 1968 student massacre. The group came under gunfire.

Forty-three students were subsequently kidnapped by organized crime members in collusion with local police, according to two separate international investigations, including one backed by the Organization of American States (OAS). The motive behind the attack remains unclear.

Initial findings by the administration of former President Enrique Peña Nieto concluded that the students had been abducted by corrupt police working with a local drug gang, who believed the group had been infiltrated by a rival outfit. The gang allegedly killed the students and burned their bodies, according to the government’s report.

Family members have long accused Mexican authorities—including the military—of complicity in the students' disappearance.

President Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday (September 24) that the work of the Special Unit for Investigation and Litigation of the Ayotzinapa Case (UELICA), along with new meetings with the students’ parents, could lead to new arrests in the coming days.

The Ayotzinapa case remains emblematic of Mexico’s broader crisis of enforced disappearances, with more than 120,000 people currently missing nationwide. The victims’ status as students and the alleged involvement of state actors have drawn international attention and sustained public outrage.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

SHOWS: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (SEPTEMBER 26, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. (NIGHT SHOTS) VARIOUS OF BLACK BLOC MEMBERS THROWING EXPLOSIVE DEVICES AT RIOT POLICE

2. (NIGHT SHOT) RIOT POLICE SPEAKING THROUGH RADIO

3. (NIGHT SHOT) EXPLOSION IN SMOKE-FILLED HALL

4. (NIGHT SHOT) BLACK BLOC THROWING OBJECTS AT RIOT POLICE

5. (NIGHT SHOT) MOLOTOV COCKTAIL BEING EXTINGUISHED

6. (NIGHT SHOT) RIOT POLICE WITH SHIELDS

7. (NIGHT SHOT) BLACK BLOC MEMBER THROWING EXPLOSIVES TOWARDS POLICE

8. (NIGHT SHOT) PROTESTERS THROWING OBJECTS TOWARDS POLICE

9. VARIOUS OF AYOTZINAPA STUDENTS MARCHING

10. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FATHER OF MISSING STUDENT CESAR MANUEL GONZALEZ, MARIO CESAR GONZALEZ CONTRERAS, SAYING:

"(They) call it violence. So, what do you call making 43 student teachers disappear? I mean, is violence taking a bus and burning it? Is that violence? Violence is not revealing the truth about the whereabouts of those 43 student teachers and having 43 families suffering the unimaginable. That is violence."

11. PROTESTER SPRAYING A BARRIER

12. VARIOUS OF MARCH IN PROGRESS UNDER RAINY WEATHER

13. RELATIVES OF MISSING STUDENTS AT ANTI-MONUMENT

14. PARENT CALLING OUT NAMES OF MISSING STUDENTS

15. VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS SHOUTING (Spanish): "Bring them back alive."

16. RAISED FIST

17. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FATHER OF MISSING STUDENT CHRISTIAN ALFONSO RODRIGUEZ TELUMBRE, CLEMENTE RODRIGUEZ, SAYING:

"And well, one leaves the government palace angry, disappointed, upset or annoyed because she (Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum) has been there for a year and we haven't had a single answer."

18. PROTESTERS GATHERING AT ZOCALO SQUARE

19. BANNERS FOR THE 43 MISSING STUDENTS