Mexican Vigilante Gunmen DISARM Local POLICE So They Can Rid Town of Feared Drug Cartel

• Residents living in fear of violent criminal gangs in south-west Mexico are taking matters into their own hands
• Yesterday 600 vigilantes seized control of town of Paracuaro in Michoacan state in bloody battle that left one dead
• Convoy of ‘autodefensas’, or self-defense groups, drove into the town controlled by drugs gang in blacked-out SUVs
• They took back control from the Cabelleros Templarios (Knights Templar) gang which terrorized local residents
• In neighboring Guerrero state, vigilante group the Public Safety System marched in honor of first anniversary

Hundreds of armed vigilantes stormed a Mexican town and arrested federal police in the latest bloody battle between residents, criminal gangs, and the police locals say are in league with the gang members.

Around 600 members of local ‘autodefensas’, or self-defense groups, stormed Paracuaro in the troubled Michoacan state yesterday in an attempt to seize control of the town back from the feared Caballeros Templarios (Knights Templar) drug cartel.

The battle was the latest in a long-running war between the drugs gang in Mexico’s south-west and local residents who say state and federal police are not protecting them.