Migrants used a cross they were carrying in a protest as a battering ram to break through a barrier set up by Mexican National Guard and police officers on Friday in southern Mexico.  

The migrants, many from Central America, are part of a 500-strong caravan hoping to reach the U.S. border. 

The migrants who lashed out at Mexican authorities were participating in a traditional holy-week protest that came two weeks early.

The migrants say they were angry that they had been confined to the Mexican city of Tapachula and unable to find work due to the slow processing of their asylum cases.  

Last month Mexico’s National Migration Institute temporarily suspended operations in the city of Tapachula after some staff were injured in what it called a “violent” incident involving migrants.

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