The protest was just one of a host of activities planned in advance of Monday's 8th anniversary of the students' disappearances.
A protest to demand justice for 43 Mexican students who disappeared in 2014 has turned violent, leaving 11 police officers wounded, authorities said.
A confrontation took place outside the attorney general's office in Mexico City on Thursday after demonstrators gathered, calling for people linked to the case to be arrested.
"Some protesters physically assaulted officers and threw explosive devices at them," Mexico City's public security secretariat said in a statement.
"Consequently, 11 police were injured by firecrackers and bruises from blows to different parts of the body," it said.
The officers were taken to the hospital for evaluation and were found to be out of danger, the statement said.
Demonstrators scrawled graffiti outside the attorney general's office and carried banners demanding the safe return of the students.
So far, the remains of only three victims have been identified.
On Wednesday, relatives of the students protested outside Israel's embassy, demanding the extradition of Tomas Zeron, a former top investigator wanted in connection with the case.
Zeron is one of the architects of the so-called "historical truth," the official version of the case presented in 2015 that was rejected by the victims' relatives and independent experts.
READ MORE: Relatives of missing Mexico students urge Israel to deport suspect
Heated case
The protest was just one of a host of activities planned in advance of Monday's 8th anniversary of the students' disappearances.
Protests that include relatives of the disappeared students have usually remained peaceful.
The 43 teaching students had commandeered buses in the southern state of Guerrero to travel to a demonstration in Mexico City before they went missing.
Investigators say they were detained by corrupt police and handed over to a drug cartel that mistook them for members of a rival gang, but exactly what happened to them is disputed.
Last month, interior undersecretary Alejandro Encinas, who leads a truth commission investigating the case, called it a “state crime” and directly implicated the military, among other state actors including local and state police.
Ex-attorney general Jesus Murillo Karam, who oversaw the original investigation into the disappearances, was arrested last month on charges of torture, official misconduct and forced disappearance.
Last week, Mexico arrested a retired general, who had been in charge of the local army base in Iguala when the abductions occurred.
Prosecutors said that arrest warrants had been issued for more than 80 suspects, including 20 military personnel, 44 police officers and 14 cartel members.
READ MORE: Mexico arrests general over disappearance of 43 students
Copyright © 2024 TRT World.