https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-63086207
Lev Tahor Jewish sect members held in Mexico escape
About 20 members of a Jewish sect held at a facility in Mexico after a police raid on their jungle base have fled.
Footage showed men, women, and children streaming out of the site in Huixtla, in the west, on Wednesday night.
They had been there since the raid last Friday when two members were arrested on suspicion of human trafficking and serious sexual offences.
The sect, Lev Tahor, is known for extremist practices and imposing a strict regime on its followers.
It advocates child marriage, inflicts harsh punishments even for minor transgressions and requires women and girls as young as three years old to completely cover up with robes.
Local media said members of the group had been protesting against their detention since their arrival, including rioting and assaulting personnel.
Video from Reuters news agency shows the detainees, dressed in gold, grey and white robes, forcing their way past two guards at a gate as one of their members holds it open.
One of the guards trying to hold them back falls down and the group climb over him as they make their escape. A youth is seen turning and kicking the guard as he lies on the ground.
It is unclear where the group has gone.
Associated Press said they were collected by a lorry and headed towards the border with Guatemala, while news site El Heraldo de México said they went by foot for several miles before disappearing into the night.
Their compound, 11 miles (17.5km) north of Tapachula in Chiapas state, was raided by an elite police unit after a months-long investigation and surveillance operation involving Mexican and Guatemalan authorities and a private four-man team from Israel including former Mossad and domestic intelligence agents.
Twenty-six members were found at the site, among them Israelis with dual citizenships including Canada, the US and Guatemala, Israel's foreign ministry said.
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