CHILPANCINGO: The prosecutor and two top security officials of Mexico's southern Guerrero state were dismissed Tuesday, a day after local police took part in a crackdown on a protest in which two students died.
A third protester was in a serious condition following the clash on the main highway between Mexico City and the Pacific resort of Acapulco during a protest by students seeking an increase in enrollment at a local school.
Guerrero Governor Angel Aguirre dismissed the prosecutor, public security secretary and deputy public security secretary Tuesday, a local official said.
Aguirre, who has yet to comment on the clashes, gave no explanation.
State Prosecutor Alberto Lopez said his police were unarmed at the protest but witnesses, including journalists, said that they fired shots to clamp down on the demo.
Local media showed pictures of police and civilians aiming guns at protesters.
Rights groups condemned the deaths and said police used excessive force, while authorities accused the students of starting fires at a nearby gas station and throwing molotov cocktails.
Prosecutor Lopez said Monday that one of the detained protesters had led police to the discovery of eight grenades and an AK-47.
Lawyer Manuel Olivares told AFP Tuesday that the detainee, 19-year-old Gerardo Torres, said police beat him and made him fire an AK-47.
Another lawyer, Hegel Ramirez, told Milenio television that Torres was the only protester still being held, out of 25 detained.
Student leaders said that 15 protesters were still missing.
Some 600 protesters had blocked the highway, near Chilpancingo, some 170 miles (270 kilometers) south of Mexico City, to call for an increase in student enrollment at a rural school in Ayotzinapa.
The southern state has seen numerous protests in the education sector this year, including a two-month strike by teachers in Acapulco over security threats from suspected drug gang members.
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