Mexico casino arson massacre triggers protest

Hundreds of protesters demonstrated Sunday against the government in the aftermath of a casino arson attack that killed 52 people and has been labeled one of the worst crimes of Mexico's deadly five-year drug war.

Clad in the white shirts that have been adopted at Mexican demonstrations against violence and crime, more than 1,000 people demanded the resignations of Nuevo Leon Gov. Rodrigo Medina and Monterrey Mayor Fernando Larrazabal.

Demonstrators held protest signs against the political leaders. They said they are tired of the violence that afflicts the industrial centre of four million as the Gulf drug cartel and the rival Zetas battle over turf.

The protest came as the website of the newspaper Reforma reported that state police had arrested two people in connection with Thursday's attack on the Casino Royale. The newspaper quoted a state official, who did not answer phone calls seeking confirmation.

Other officials, including Medina, refused to confirm or deny the arrests.

A surveillance tape of Thursday's fire shows eight or nine men arriving in four cars carrying canisters into the Casino Royale on a commercial avenue. In little more than two minutes, the casino is in flames and choking black smoke churns from the building.

Authorities released sketches of three of the men based on interviews with survivors of the fire. The newspaper report gave no information on what role the detained men allegedly had in the attack.

According to witnesses, the gunmen burst into the casino and shouted for people to get out, saying they were burning the place down. But people ran farther inside the building, where many were found dead from smoke inhalation in offices and bathrooms.

President Felipe Calderon has offered a $2.4-million US reward for information leading to the capture of the casino's attackers, an amount comparable to the ones offered for the arrest of the country's top drug lords.

In a country that has grown used to beheadings and grisly mass killings in the drug war, the casino attack shocked Mexicans because most of the victims were middle class women who frequented the casino with friends.

The government says more than 35,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence since President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against drug gangs in late 2006. Others put the death toll near 40,000.