Mob in Mexico brutally beats suspected kidnapper hours before Holy Week procession

By FERNANDA PESCE
Associated Press

TAXCO, Mexico (AP) — A mob in the Mexican tourist city of Taxco brutally beat a woman they suspected of kidnapping and killing a young girl, just hours before the city’s Holy Week procession. On the eve of Good Friday, men walk through the colonial streets of Taxco wearing hoods, whipping themselves or carrying heavy bundles of thorns in penitence. Taxco once drew throngs of tourists to its silver workshops, but in recent years drug gang violence has taken its toll on tourism, and accustomed local inhabitants to violence and a mistrust of police. Even though police had detained the suspect, the mob pulled her from a patrol vehicle and kicked and beat her.