Thousands Demand Release Of Priests

Thousands of people marched Wednesday to demand the release of two priests jailed in connection with the deaths of two police officers.

The arrests have raised tensions between the church and government and Roman Catholic leaders have declared that the clerics are innocent.

“We affirm that our priestly brothers had nothing to do with the accusations against them,” the Mexican Episcopal Conference, a group of Mexican bishops, said in a statement. “We ask that they be freed immediately.”

Separately, the demonstrators - mostly Indians from the highlands in Chiapas state - took part in Wednesday’s demonstration in Yajalon, shouting slogans such as “Liberty!” and “Justice!”

The Revs. Jeronimo Hernandez Lopez and Jose Luis Gonzalo Rosas Morales were arrested Saturday and charged with being accessories to homicide in connection with the Friday shooting deaths of two state policemen during a confrontation with peasants.