Mexico Protesters Set Fire to Govt. Building Over Robbery

Twenty citizens of Los Reyes, Mexico lashed out at local authorities Friday, setting fire to a municipal building after police prevented them from lynching a thief, Mayor Rafael Ramos Bautista said in a statement.

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After being seen allegedly attempting to steal a tricycle from a neighborhood, a crowd of 100 city residents stood in the main plaza, demanding police release 23-year old Felix Cruz Rivera into the hands of the crowd.

"About 100 people gathered around the building, motivated by false information, wrong data and an unjustified state of discomfort, to try to remove from the separates the alleged thief of a tricycle in a talacheria of the auxiliary board of San Juan Acozac," a press release from the mayor's office said.

Frustration towards the judicial process has spiraled out of control, the mayor said, touching on two deaths which transpired in the last months following a fatal lynching. In September, a similar situation concerning an alleged bicycle thief resulted in the beating and ultimate death of the suspected felon. In August, a crowd of city residents apprehended another person suspected of stealing a van and burned him alive.

When authorities refused to comply to the group's demands, 20 demonstrators turned their aggression towards the police, throwing stones and then setting fire to three official vehicles and steering the flaming vehicles into the town hall, severely damaging the office building.

Local police called for reinforcements from the state to safely transfer the suspect to a more secure facility, the Public Ministry of Tepeaca announced. The group dispersed after discovering Cruz had been transferred, but not before 10 residents were apprehended by police for the damages to state property.

The city has filed a complaint for the damages, which are currently being investigated by the State Attorney General’s Office, or FGE. The incident resulted in two damaged patrol vehicles, one car completely destroyed, a mass of lost files and damaged computers, severe damage to the decorative polycarbonate dome of the municipal building, broken doors, walls and electrical installations.

FGE advised residents consider the sources of their information and ignore false alarms, irrational calls and uninformed versions of the facts.