BUENOS AIRES (AP) — Stones and green shotgun cartridges from the police on the ground. The aftermath of the violent protest by retirees, backed by hundreds of soccer hooligans from different teams, was left on the streets after the confrontation on Wednesday in Buenos Aires between protesters and security forces in front of the Congress, which resulted in 124 arrests and at least 46 injuries, according to authorities.
PUBLICIDAD
The retirees, who gather in small groups every Wednesday to protest against the government’s austerity measures under the far-right president Javier Milei, were supported this time by an unprecedented call from fans of Boca Juniors, River Plate, and other teams from the first and second divisions.
PUBLICIDAD
Wednesday’s protest in support of pensioners was the most crowded and violent in the almost year and a half that Milei has been in power.
A photographer is in critical condition
As a result of these serious incidents, a photographer who was seriously injured after being hit in the head by a tear gas canister fired by a police officer was in critical condition.
Pablo Grillo, a 35-year-old independent photojournalist, suffered a skull fracture and loss of brain mass, requiring immediate surgical intervention at the public hospital Ramos Mejía in Buenos Aires.
The Association of Graphic Reporters of the Argentine Republic (ARGRA), of which Grillo was a student, questioned the actions of the police and denounced that for the Ministry of Security, “graphic reporters are targets to be repressed.”
ARGRA demanded the resignation of the Minister of National Security and Defense, Patricia Bullrich, during a “camera strike” on Thursday in front of Congress, at the same spot where Grillo collapsed while filming the riots.
According to a video, the projectile was launched from a police formation.
“Out Bullrich, out,” shouted the photographers as they raised their cameras in protest.
The Milei government accuses a destabilization plan
“It is a consequence of those who generate violence and they will have as a response the repression of the State,” excused Minister Bullrich, also on Thursday during a press conference.
For a year now, a group of retirees have been gathering every Wednesday in front of Parliament to demand that their incomes are not enough due to Milei’s austerity policies.
Although there have been incidents with the police in other protests, this time they became more violent due to the participation of hooligans from first and second division soccer teams.
For Bullrich, “it was a march organized by gangs, by violent soccer hooligans, by violent left-wing groups. By different sectors seeking the total and absolute destabilization of our government.”
The official announced that they will file a criminal complaint with the justice system for “sedition, attempted attack, and resistance to authority” against the alleged instigators of the protest, including opposition Peronist leaders.
Two foreign citizens of Mexican and Peruvian nationality detained for participating in the riots will be expelled from the country, the minister announced.
“It was all organized from different places with the aim of destabilizing the government and they will try it every Wednesday. The Argentine state, the government, will not allow the construction of this violent logic,” warned Bullrich.
According to Clarín, the minister accused Leandro Capriotti as “the main organizer” of Wednesday’s mobilization and said he is a “friend and protected” of the historic union leader Luis Barrionuevo. Capriotti and Barrionuevo are also linked through the Chacarita Juniors club.