A confrontation between Argentine authorities and anti-government protesters enraged by President Javier Millei’s spending cuts intensified on Wednesday, with the forced dispersal of demonstrators who had blocked the capital’s main thoroughfares and the arrest of eight protesters. Ta.
In an unusual move, riot police deployed powerful water cannons, drenching protesters. Demanding more food for soup kitchens, Argentines threw sticks and stones, set trash cans on fire and paralyzed Buenos Aires’ main streets, ignoring a new law banning roadblocks.
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Strikes and protests have gripped the country in recent weeks as Argentines have taken to the streets to vent their anger and despair as they struggle to cope with Prime Minister Millei’s dire austerity measures amid soaring inflation. Bus drivers are planning a strike on Thursday.
Police move forward to quell anti-government protests against food shortages at soup kitchens and economic reforms proposed by President Javier Millay in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, April 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Natasha Pisarenko)
Prime Minister Millais’ right-wing government has burnished a tough-on-crime image, passing new measures in December giving security forces the power to arrest and disperse protesters who block roads. Ms Millay also threatened to withdraw welfare from people accused of obstructing traffic. Critics, including a team of UN human rights experts, have called the restrictions a violation of civil liberties.
“We are finishing the liberation of Julio de 9,” Buenos Aires Security Minister Waldo Wolf said Wednesday, referring to the traffic-clogged boulevard. “We are restoring order in the center of Buenos Aires.”
Wolff told local media that eight protesters were charged with criminal damage to property.
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Protesters gathered at the Human Capital Ministry, which faces the challenge of overseeing Argentina’s social services. As part of a sweeping effort to stabilize Argentina’s long-troubled economy, Millay announced government spending, including laying off civil servants, cutting energy and transportation subsidies, canceling public works projects, and reducing transfers to rural areas. was significantly reduced.
As the annual inflation rate exceeds 276% and Argentines are falling into poverty, more and more people are flocking to soup kitchens run by left-wing political parties and social organizations to overcome poverty. But Millay’s austerity measures have also hit food pantries, known locally as comedors, which have stopped food deliveries and cut funding.
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“All the government is proposing to its people is planned misery,” the trade unions leading the protests said in a statement.
