Helts, among the most violent in fifteen months of the presidency of Javier Milei, opposed on Wednesday March 12, police and demonstrators in Buenos Aires, during a march for the defense of pensions. The parade was inflated by the presence of numerous supporters of football clubs, who came to support retirees.
The demonstration degenerated in the middle of the afternoon, after a long tense face-to-face, then first jostles, between the police and several hundred demonstrators near the parliament, who was in session.
Various stones and projectiles have targeted the police, which used rubber bullets, water cannons and tear gas on numerous occasions, during moving clashes, more than a row battle, which lasted more than two hours. Thirty people were arrested throughout the day, and two police officers were injured, police from the capital reported.
After the initial clashes, the hardest, the police released the vast place of the Parliament, and pushed groups of demonstrators towards the adjacent streets, on a background of tear gas clouds, while several trash cans, and a police car, were burned, found the France-Presse agency (AFP).
Shortly after 6 p.m. (10 p.m. in Paris) still resounded a few rubber bullet shots while the police, including duets on a motorcycle, dispersed some demonstrators who had reflected towards the Place de Mai, in front of the presidency.
The presidency denounces a “ultras” march
For years, every Wednesday in Buenos Aires has seen a mobilization of retirees, sometimes a few dozen, sometimes hundreds or more, to protest against the degradation of their long -standing purchasing power, in particular a brutal fall in the first months of the presidency of the Ultraliberal Javier Milei.
In recent days, calls have multiplied on social networks between supporters of football clubs in the country, including the Grand River Plate, Boca Juniors, Racing, Independiente, to join the retirees. Both to support their demands, and protest against the hardness of the police in previous Wednesdays. Relatively short clashes had made some light injured, and led to arrests, when the police had used tear gas. Some radical left -wing unions and organizations were also present on Wednesday, as often alongside retirees.
“I came because it is not possible that they hit retirees, my father is retired, he is 83 years old and he touches the minimum pension, he no longer has access to medicines!” »»was indignant to AFP Martin Mansilla, 33 -year -old taxi driver dressed in the Red Jersey of Independiente.
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“If they touch old people, what a mess are preparing!” »» Or “Milei, junk, you’re the dictatorship!” »»sang groups of supporters in streets leading to Parliament.
The presidential spokesperson had in advance criticized mobilization as “Nothing other than a” barrabravas “walk [ultras] Certainly left -wing obedience, Kirchnerist ”.
Security Minister Patricia Bullrich had denounced “A destabilizing march”and warned the demonstrators in the face of possible disorders. “Let them not risk it, because they will find us”she launched.
Record inflation in Argentina
Argentinian retirees are the big losers of the first year of austerity of the Milei presidency, in reality losing for several years of chronic inflation, which culminated at 211 % in the year 2023.
Since mid-2024, the minimum retirement has been indexed monthly on inflation-instead of a periodic and more random revision before. In March, this minimum, which more than half of the retirees perceive, went to nearly 350,000 pesos (328 dollars). But above all, retirees suffered from the first six months of the Milei presidency, where a catch -up of pensions had been frozen, despite a devaluation of 52 % at the end of 2023, and with an increase in the price of medicines in parallel.
“I believe that the people are waking up, after so much that this bastard government does”declared to AFP, a little away from the tear gas, Cristina Delgado, 85, who perceives the minimum retirement and says he is indignant by the police response. “I lived four dictatorships, but there, it’s worse, because it is in a democracy. »»