Thousands of people held marches to protest the disappearance of students in the southern Mexican town of Iguala last month.  In a country regularly pelted with news of murders and disappearances, the feared fates of the 43 students from a teaching school were particularly egregious.

Parents of the victims traveled from Guerrero state, where the students disappeared, to Mexico City, where they led a procession, carrying photographs of the disappeared and signs reading “we want them back alive”.  Marchers chanted, “Where are they?”

Authorities say it will take at least two weeks to identify some 28 bodies found in a series of mass graves outside Iguala.  It’s feared the remains are at least some of the students, who were last seen being forced into police vans after a raucous protest.  Two-dozen cops with suspected drug gang ties have been arrested, and the military took over security in the area.

Demonstrations also took place in many cities, including Oaxaca, Veracruz, Morelia, and Guerrero.  The EZLN indigenous group commonly known as the Zapatistas held a silent march in the southern city of San Cristobal de las Casas.