Argentina: six deputies hospitalized after clash between police and protesters

Five deputies who were participating in a march to reject the Bases law that the Argentine Senate is debating this Wednesday had to be hospitalized after being affected by the pepper spray used by the police to break up a demonstration near the legislative precinct.

These are the Peronist legislators Eduardo Valdes, Carlos Castagnetto, Leopoldo Moreau, Juan Manuel Pedrini, Carolina Yutrovic and Luis Basterrawho reported having received blows and gas from members of the security forces.

The event occurs at a time when the Upper House is processing a legislative project that contemplates a profound restructuring of the Argentine State to promote a liberal economic model.

All of them had to be transferred to the Santa Lucía Ophthalmological Hospital in Buenos Aires, where some were admitted around 1:30 p.m. local time (4:30 p.m. GMT) with seizures and facial irritations.

One of the deputies had to be carried on a stretcher by personnel from the Evacuation and First Aid Corps (CEPA).

Thousands of activists from social, political and union organizations had gathered early in the morning in Congress to express their rejection of the Law of Bases and Starting Points for the Freedom of Argentines, the star project of the Government of Javier Milei, which It obtained the green light as it passed through the Chamber of Deputies.

The atmosphere in Congress Square became more tense as more protesters arrived. The clashes with riot agents intensified around 3:30 p.m. local time (6:30 p.m. GMT), when several people broke the fenced perimeter that guards the access to the Congress building.

Members of the Police infantry corps faced charges from a group of hooded men who threw stones, bottles and Molotov cocktails at them. The riot forces resorted to the use of water cannons, tear gas and motorized troops.

The protesters who were marching peacefully retreated and left an open space between the security forces and the violent protesters who used some of the street furniture and parked vehicles as shields and set one of them on fire.

Upon learning of the violent events at the doors of Parliament, the opposition bloc Unión por la Patria (Peronist) proposed interrupting the debate so that a commission of senators from all blocs could come out and learn about what was happening around the Parliament. Congress, although the proposal was rejected by the majority.

Some senators decided to leave the legislative chamber on their own while the debate continued.

Union for the Homeland claimed that “the repression stops”, while the president of the Senate and vice president of the Republic, Victoria Villarruel, defended the operation deployed by the security forces.