World, so it was that happened according to a witness 9:30 PM: Iguala Police Open Fire on Three Buses Containing Ayotzinapa Students A total of 90 Ayotzinapa students board three buses and leave the Iguala bus terminal at 9:30 pm. The students intend to head to Mexico City for the annual October 2 protests that commemorate the Tlatelolco massacre of 1968. As the student’s buses move a few blocks away from the bus terminal, Municipal police from Iguala surround the students and open fire. Even though the students attempt to surrender, the police continue to shoot and many students run towards the residential area of Iguala. Municipal police mount a search through the town and gunfire is heard throughout the city. The municipal police force of nearby Cocula is also involved in the shootings. 9:40 PM: While Under Siege, Ayotzinapa Students Call Classmates for Help Witnesses recall that 10 minutes after the onset of gunfire, students and local residents report the matter to the state police, but they never arrive to the scene. They also contact their Ayotzinapa classmates for help. Mexican news sources report state and federal authorities are already aware of the shootings in Iguala, but assume the situation is “under control.” The police take away students from one of the buses and force them onto their trucks. The slogan “Alive You Took Them, Alive We Want Them Back” originates from the students witnessing the police loading their classmates into these vehicles. 9:40 PM: Ayotzinapa Students Contact Regional Media Outlets, Tixtla, Guerrero Ayotzinapa students contacted local and regional media outlets asking them to report on the shootings as they occurred. The media outlets refused to carry the story or send reporters. Instead, they told the students that state authorities had already commanded them not to cover the shootings in Iguala, Guerrero. Only the radio station from the Autonomous University of Guerrero was willing to cover the story. 11:20 PM: Classmates and Reporters Arrive After more than an hour, the Ayotzinapa classmates arrive from Tixtla, Guerrero to the scene of the first attack, bringing with them independent local reporters and their professors. As the students explain to reporters what occurred during the first attack, a second wave of gunfire is unleashed from heavily armed civilians and police officers. Several students, professors and other civilians are injured. A new group of students is captured including Julio Mondragon. Students witness the torture of Julio Mondragon. While the material witnesses are too fearful to come forward, their classmate Omar Garcia has relayed their testimony through the Mexican media. 12:20 AM: Mexican Military Make First Contact With Normalistas Some time between 11:30 pm and 12:20 a.m., this new group of Ayotzinapa students originally intending to help their classmates is now forced to run through Iguala. They find a hospital for their wounded classmate, but military personnel intercept them. Instead of responding to requests for help, the military personnel beat these Ayotzinapa students as if they were criminals. The soldiers yell: “this is what you get for doing what you do” as they beat the students. Presumably, they were referring to their fundraising and social activism. Omar Garcia and his Ayotzinapa classmates are interrogated, personal information is taken from them, and they are threatened. They are told: “if you do not cooperate, you will never be seen again”. 12:30 AM: Military Arrives on the Scene Reporters arrive to Iguala from Chilpancingo, Guerrero. They cover both crime scenes at 12:30 am and 1:00 am, but focus on the shootings of the first three student buses. Nearly 4 hours after the first attack, reporters observe an 8-man military squad arrive to the buses. There is no forensic team yet present and it begins to rain. The evidence is now visibly washed away! The reporters sense hostility and disinterest in the crime from the soldiers; the soldiers tell the reporters to hide behind vehicles because gunfire can be heard in the near distance.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 00:33:19 +0000
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