More than three-thousand Mexican Indians have marked the anniverary of a massacre in which suspected paramilitaries killed forty-five of their relatives and friends.

The Indians gathered at the scene of the killings, the village of Acteal in the southern state of Chiapas.

There, they knelt and wept as a group of men re-enacted the events of last December.

The victims were seen as sympathisers of the Zapatista rebels, who launched a brief uprising four years ago.

The Mexican authorities say investigations are continuing, but they have ruled out the involvement of the army and the police.

Opposition groups and human rights activists continue to blame paramilitaries linked to the governing party for the massacre.