国际英语新闻:Families of Mexico's missing students call for Christmas Eve protests

MEXICO CITY, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- The families of 43 missing students abducted in Mexico's southern state of Guerrero in late September called for Christmas Eve protests Wednesday.

A human rights defense group aiding the parents and relatives of the victims, the Mountain Human Rights Center (Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montana) said protesters aimed to march to the presidential residence of Los Pinos, in the capital Mexico City.

At the event, participants will deliver a message to the international community and demand the students be returned alive.

The students, from a rural teachers college, went missing on Sept. 26 following a clash with police linked with drug gang members in the city of Iguala, in Mexico's violence-torn southern state of Guerrero.

The shocking plight of the students, who federal authorities say were killed and incinerated, has garnered national and worldwide attention.

The Yaqui indigenous tribe of San Francisco Xochicuautla, in Mexico's northern state of Sonora, sent a message of support to the families of the victims, expressing the hope they will be found alive.

So far, only the remains of one of the students has been identified.

Such show of support for the relatives has intensified since officials with the Human Rights Unit of the Federal Attorney General's Office announced they were suspending the search for the students until Jan. 5, 2015.