Under sharp criticism over the manner in which he dealt with protests initiated around the 43 missing students from a teachers college in Guerrero, Mexico, Mexico City's police chief, Jesus Rodriguez Almeida, has stepped down from his position.

Mr Rodriguez offered no reason for leaving.

His departure comes days after President Enrique Pena Nieto's submitted a bill to congress which sought to replace the country's most corrupt municipal police forces within the next two years.

On Friday, Mexico City's Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera, as quoted in Al Jazerra, delivered the news with no elaboration, saying simply: "Today I've received the resignation of the Public Security Secretary of this capital."

According to the BBC News, lawyers representing the 11 men and women who were arrested during a large demonstration called for his resignation. The 11 protesters were released last week with the strong support of Amnesty International, who stated that the “evidence against the 11 protesters is so thin that it is incredibly hard to understand why they are still in detention, let alone in high-security facilities and treated as ‘high value criminals.”

Mr Rodriguez's resignation may the first big move in a reorganization of top police chiefs as the country tries to rebuild faith in its municipal securities.

In the search for the missing 43 students, Mexican authorities have already arrested numerous people tied to the government, including the mayor of Iguala, Jose Luis Abarca, and his wife Maria de los Angeles Pineda, along with scores of police officers and several Guerreros Unidos operatives.

The Mexican government has stated that members of the Guerreros Unidos drug gang, in the southern state of Guerrero, killed and burned the 43 students after police in the town of Iguala were ordered by the mayor to hand the students over to the criminal gangs who then executed them.