A Mexican religious cult has padlocked the gate of its walled community, keeping out 500 teachers protesting the sect's refusal to let children attend public school there.
The teachers' union marched to the western village of Nueva Jerusalen, or New Jerusalem, and urged authorities to act so that 300 children deprived of school since August 20 can enjoy their right to free, secular education.
The sect's followers sang religious hymns as the members of the National Coordination of Education Workers protested just outside the gate, which was chained and padlocked.
"We demand that (the federal authorities) intervene quickly and seriously in order to resolve this problem in the best way possible," said Armando Munguia, a union member.
He said the federal authorities must act urgently "so that the students can exercise their right to secular, public and free education."
Some 80 officers from the Michoacan state police were deployed, but they only stood watch during the protest. State authorities have refrained from using the police to force the school to open, to avoid inflaming tensions.
The sect had already made headlines in July when its hardline followers destroyed two school buildings after a "clairvoyant" said the Virgin of the Rosary ordered their destruction because "the devil lives there."
Mr Munguia criticised the federal government's "lack of action," saying authorities reacted timidly since the destruction of the schools.
Fistfights broke out when the sect's hardliners refused to allow teachers and students to begin secular classes on August 20. Federal police were deployed days later but have since withdrawn.
Founded by a renegade Catholic priest in 1973, the sect of 4,000 people is divided between a majority who consider secular public education demonic, and those who want their children to receive the same education as other Mexicans.
The cult, which has been disavowed by the Roman Catholic Church, does not allow followers to watch television, read newspapers, own mobile phones or practice sports. Women must cover their hair and cannot wear trousers.
Before ending its protest, the union indicated that the children may finally be able to go to school on Monday in mobile classrooms installed in a nearby town. Their parents had rejected such an alternative last month.
The sect's leaders say children are free to attend the village's parochial school. The cult believes that public schools encourage prostitution, crime and drug use.
The parents who favour secular schools argue that the religious school has an inadequate curriculum that is limited to teaching how to read and write, religious history and basic maths.
