Thousands march to demand justice for Mexico's missing students

Thousands of Mexicans marched demanding justice on the eighth anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students, after investigators branded the atrocity a "state crime" involving the military and other institutions.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador urged protesters to rally peacefully in memory of the victims of a tragedy that shocked the nation and prompted international indignation.

Relatives, students and other demonstrators advanced through the heart of Mexico City chanting slogans such as "alive they took them, alive we want them!"

Some carried signs reading: "It was the army."

"We demand that the military be investigated, that they be punished," said Blanca Nava, the mother of one of the students.

Lopez Obrador's appeal came after several dozen members of the security forces were injured in clashes with protesters hurling rocks and homemade explosive devices at a Mexican military base.

"The only thing is to avoid violence," Lopez Obrador told reporters.

"It's not about throwing stones or Molotov cocktails. It's about protesting peacefully," he said.

March appeared to be mostly peaceful, with only occasional skirmishes between protesters and the police.

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.