National Autonomous University of Mexico Rejects Protesters' Demands IANS/EFE
go to original April 25, 2013

Protesters claiming to be students occupy the office of the president of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, or UNAM, on Wednesday, April 24, 2013. (EFE)

MEXICO CITY - A criminal complaint has been filed against the protesters who occupied the office of the president of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, or UNAM, and the demands made by the demonstrators in exchange for returning the building have been rejected, university officials said.

Attorneys representing the university filed a criminal complaint and provided evidence to federal prosecutors, the UNAM said in a statement.

The UNAM is Mexico's largest university and one of Latin America's leading higher education institutions.

The group that occupied the building was given a document advising it that the protest "harms the institution and the university community by preventing normal activities from taking place," the UNAM said.

"The criminal complaint has been expanded and the prosecutor's office has been asked to take action against those identified as participants in the events of April 19 over the possible removal of university property," the document says.

About 200 students from the School of Sciences and Humanities, one of the UNAM's university preparatory schools, marched down one of Mexico City's main avenues last Friday to Ciudad Universitaria, the institution's main campus.

Some 15 hooded students burst into the building that houses the president's office and occupied it to demand the reinstatement of five students from the School of Sciences and Humanities' campus in Naucalpan, a Mexico City suburb, who were expelled for vandalism on Feb. 5.

The building was occupied on Sunday, two days after the protest march at the university.

The university "will not give in to demands of any kind, whatever they might be, made amid violence and an occupation contrary to legality," the UNAM said.

"The return of the facilities is not subject to any conditions or demands of any kind that are contrary to public order or the fundamental values of this educational institution," the statement said.

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