Pena Nieto lives in a presidential residence across town and was not in the palace at the time.
In
recent weeks tens of thousands of others in have taken to the streets of
Mexico City and the southwestern state of Guerrero, where the students
were abducted, to condemn the government's handling of the case.
It
the toughest challenge yet to face President Pena Nieto, who took
office two years ago vowing to restore order in Mexico, where around
100,000 people have died in violence linked to organized crime since
2007.
Demostrators tear down the barricades in front of the main entrance of the Mexican National Palace in Mexico City last night
At
least two people were injured in last night's protest, local television
reported. Riot police cleared the square before midnight and an
ambulance was assisting the injured people.
Police
have now released footage of the the suspects using twigs and trash
bags to explain candidly how they layered the victims 'like a grill'
before soaking them in petrol and setting them on fire.
Their
voices are cold and unemotional as officers follow them through the
rubbish dump where every single victim was shot, killed and dumped in a
river near Iguala in Guerrero State.
Gestering
in handcuffs, one in a high visibility jacket is sat in the police
station as he confirms reports that the students were targeted en route
to protesting at a speech made by Mayor Jose Luis Abarca's wife.
Abarca allegedly demanded that the students be 'taught a lesson' so they didn't interrupt the event.
He
tells investigators: 'They came in the biggest truck. They asked them
who they were, and they all responded that they were students.
This image released by Mexico's
Attorney General's office shows the former mayor of the town of Iguala,
Jose Luis Abarca, left, and his wife, Maria de los Angeles Pineda, after
their arrest in Mexico City
Jose Luis Abarca, left and his wife Maria de Los Angeles Pineda are believed to have links to the drug cartel
A masked demostrator waves a Mexican flag at the main entrance of the Mexican National Palace last night
'So they took them down and asked them why they had come to Iguala, and they said they had come for Abarca's wife.'
Another
takes the investigators to the scene, using plastic bags as props. He
dumps one on the dirt, saying: 'They let them drop like that. The
students stood up and then they would walk like this [bending with his
hands behind his head].'
The
alleged gang member shows how they were then pushed to the ground and
shot. Those that died instantly were then dragged by their hands or legs
into one pile and the living into another.
Brazenly, one suspect then mimes how all the victims were swung into a landfill one at a time by two gang members.
'The bodies would roll until they reached the flat part,' a third suspect chilling recounted in a monotonous voice.
Chilling: This is one of three gangs
members who walked investigators through the brutal alleged massacre of
43 students near Iguala, in Mexico's Guerrero State. He used a twig to
show how the bodies were stacked
Unemotional: Another suspect sat handcuffed in the police station mimes swinging the bodies one by one
Cover up: A third leads the detectives down to the river by San Juan bridge where the bodies were dumped
Nearby,
they built a circle of rocks and put tires in the middle, he explains.
On top of the tires, they put firewood - all 43 bodies were then layered
on.
'In
the beginning, the bodies would be placed like this,' he said,
scratching lines into the ground using a stick.'Like a grill'.
A
second layer of victims would then be placed over them at a
perpendicular angle, followed by another layer - 'until all the bodies
fit'.
Two
members - named as El Huassaco and El Deva - stood at either end of the
pile and 'bathed the grill of bodies with diesel and gasoline'.
Desperate
to hide all trace of their victims, the men were then scrambled to find
bottles and plastic to put on the fire to stop it from extinguishing.
They
left with the fire still burning and came back to clean with trash bags
and bottles to pick up the charcoal and bones, the suspects said.
Demonstrators march holding images of the missing students - massacred to be 'taught a lesson' by Mayor Jose Luis Abarca's wife
When
their truck arrived at the San Juan bridge a gang leader identified as
'El Turco' allegedly told the group to deposit the bags, making small
holes in them so the remains were lost in the water.
So far, 19 mass graves have been discovered around Iguala and 74 people have been arrested.
The
43 students have not been seen since they disappeared near the southern
city of Iguala on September 26 after being attacked by police.
Attorney
General Jesus Murillo Karam said: 'The high level of degradation caused
by the fire in the remains make it very difficult to extract the DNA
that will allow an identification.'
The
bone fragments are being sent to Austria to a specialist laboratory for
DNA testing. Police allegedly handed the students over to the Guerreros
Unidos cartel who are believed to have killed them and disposed of
their bodies.
Murillo Karam said there is no evidence the students were involved in organized crime.
The 43 students, pictured, went missing as they travelled to a protest in Iguala, Guerrero State, September 26
Authorities
say it started when police, under orders of then Iguala Mayor Jose Luis
Abarca, opened fire on students who were in Iguala collecting donations
and had commandeered public buses.
Six
people were killed in two confrontations before the 43 students were
taken away and allegedly handed over to Guerreros Unidos.
Jose
Luis Abarca, who was previously mayor of Iguala, and his wife Maria de
los Angeles Pineda were found and arrested in Mexico City on Monday.
They are accused of organising the alleged massacre.
Concerned
that the group were about to disrupt a speech to be given by his
politically ambitious wife, Abarca ordered police to 'teach them a
lesson' according to Mexican media reports.
Demonstrators throw stones as they attack the Guerrero State Government Palace building yesterday
Demonstrators - pictures turning over a
car in Guerrero state - are angry at the way the investigations in this
case have been conducted
Pineda, believed to be top of the criminal underworld tree in Iguala. demanded that police arrest the students.
It was thought her speech may have been her announcement of her desire to succeed her husband as mayor.
What's
worse, the students had no intention of disrupting Pineda's speech, but
were merely travelling through the town on buses they'd hired to take
them to Mexico City for a remembrance service in honour of students
massacred there in 1968.
He admitted that many of the bodies had been badly burned which will make the process of extracting DNA more difficult.
He said: 'I have to identify, to do everything in my power, to identify, to know if these were the students.'
Students from the Ayotzinapa school run from a burning car during a protest yesterday
Some parents of the missing students do not believe that their children are among the dead.
Mario Cesar Gonzalez told CNN: 'We are not going to believe anything until the experts tell us: You know what? It is them.'
Isrrael
Galindo, claimed: 'The government is trying to resolve things its way
so that to rid itself of this great problem it is facing. My son is
alive. My son is alive. My son is alive.'
The
victims were mostly in their 20s studying to be teachers when they
planned to travel to Iguala on September 26 for a demonstration.
Amnesty International has criticised the Attorney General over his handling of the case.
Residents have held demonstrations calling for a full investigation into the fate of the 43 missing students
Erika
Guevara Rosas, Americas Director of Amnesty International said:
'Tragically, the enforced disappearance of these student teachers is
just the latest in a long line of horrors to have befallen Guerrero
state, and the rest of the country.
'The
warning signs of corruption and violence have been there for all to see
for years, and those that negligently ignored them are themselves
complicit in this tragedy.'
Amnesty said the mayor of Iguala has long been suspected of criminality and links to drugs cartels.
Ms
Guevara Rosas said: 'If the allegations against Iguala’s mayor and the
federal and local police had been investigated when other serious human
rights violations occurred, it is more than likely that the terrible
murders and enforced disappearances of the students would not have taken
place.'
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