More charges made over Mexico City deadly club stampede

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More charges have been made in Mexico City following the death two weeks ago of 12 people in a bungled nightclub raid in the capital.

The owner of the News Divine club, in which 12 people, some of them as young as 13 and 14, were killed in a stampede after the police arrived to investigate underage drinking and illegal drug use, is to be charged with manslaughter.

The BBC reports this morning that club owner Alfredo Maya Ortiz is alleged to have allowed the club to operate with a locked emergency exit, they say. He already had been charged with selling alcohol to underage patrons.

On June 24 , police officials fired 17 officers in connection with the raid, and on Thursday the police chief who led the raid, Cmdr. Guillermo Zayas, was charged with 12 counts of homicide. A youth advocate last week put the blame for the tragedy squarely on the shoulders of the police, saying that there was a complete lack of public policy in the city for dealing with young people.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City