In 2014, 43 students from a teacher’s college in Ayotzinapa, Mexico, were rounded up and put into police vehicles after hijacking some buses, The New York Times reports. They haven’t been seen since.
The Times reports that Mexican authorities maintain that the students were killed by a drug gang. But a new report found that the students were subjected to a terrifying attack carried out by police officers and other officials.
According to the report, the students had planned to steal a few buses so they could go to a protest in Mexico City, planning to return the buses when they were done—a tradition for activist students. But on their way to the protest, they were ambushed by police officers, who shot at the buses, used tear gas to drive the students out, and took some of them away. Some buses in the same area which were unaffiliated with the protestors, including one bus carrying high school soccer players, was also attacked. Why the police did this is still unclear.
For many, these missing students have come to represent just how corrupt the Mexico remains.
What started out as a simple, traditional display of activism ended with 123 people detained, six dead, many more injured, and 43 missing. This disturbing story should remind many of us, who live without fear of violence or retribution due to our views, that there are many college students around the world who don’t have that privilege.