PROTESTERS marked the 43 months since the disappearance of 43 students in Mexico today.

The students, known as the Ayotzinapa 43, have been missing, presumed dead, since their kidnap by local police in Iguala, a town in the south-western state of Guerrero, on September 26 2014.

Padres y madres de los 43 estudiantes de #Ayotzinapa en el centro de #Coyoacan a 43 meses de la desaparición de sus hijos pic.twitter.com/3rUEl358F8

— Mariomarlo (@Mariomarlo) April 22, 2018

The National Popular Assembly (ANP), a platform organised by the families and friends of the missing students, took over toll booths across Mexico, letting drivers through for free and handing them leaflets highlighting their case.

The students had been heading to Mexico City to commemorate the anniversary of the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre, in which students and civilians were killed as part of a crackdown on dissent before that year’s Olympic games.

Their coach was stopped by police, who allegedly opened fire on the students, whom they accused of stealing three buses. Subsequent events remain unclear.

Government investigations concluded that, after taking them into custody, police handed the students to the United Warriors drug gang, who killed them, set their bodies on fire and dumped them in landfill.

However, investigations conducted by the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts say that it would have been impossible for the gang to have killed and buried 43 bodies in a single action.

Parents and campaigners suspect Mexican army involvement — the father of one of the victims says that his son’s mobile phone was last located at the 27th military barracks in Iguala. They have demanded the barracks be investigated, accusing Mexican authorities of colluding with police and the army.

“The government has made no progress in our case, but they’re stubborn, presenting their historic lie despite the scientific and factual inconsistencies of that theory,” an ANP spokesman said.