Protesters marked the second anniversary of President Enrique Pena Nieto’s administration on Monday by marching in cities across Mexico to demand justice for 43 students who disappeared at the hands of police.

In Chilpancingo, the capital of the southern state of Guerrero, where the students disappeared, demonstrators led by teachers of the State Co-ordinating Committee of Educational Workers (CETEG) and Ayotzinapa students attacked the state prosecutor’s office, torching over a dozen government vehicles and breaking windows and office equipment.

At a state-owned Pemex oil refinery in Oaxaca, protesters led by a teachers’ union blockaded roads, halting all traffic.

Thousands more marched along a main avenue in Mexico City, led by a group of parents of the 43 missing students, denouncing the president’s handling of the case.

They were supported by groups of university students, teachers and other trade unionists, who marched from the main Zocalo square to the Angel of Independence.

The protesters called on Mr Pena Nieto to resign and waved blackened Mexican flags.

They chanted: “You are not alone” to the parents of the missing students.

“We no longer recognise Enrique Pena Nieto as president because he has not met our central demand, which was to present our sons alive,” said families’ spokesman Felipe de la Cruz.

The protests were largely peaceful, but several turned violent later in the night.

At the end of the Mexico City march, stones were thrown and windows were broken in banks and businesses in the Zona Rosa commercial area, where several hundred riot police were lying in wait for the protesters.

Members of the National Human Rights Commission stood by to escort the surrounded activists to safety.

However, despite their efforts, three people were arrested while trying to help a student being clubbed by the police.

Thousands marched in dozens of cities throughout the country while, in the border cities of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, activists co-operated to block the international bridge.

Solidarity marches were also held in Frankfurt, Los Angeles, Montreal, Cordova, London, Brussels and elsewhere.