The streets of Buenos Aires have witnessed The greatest police repression since Javier Milei arrived to the Presidency, in December 2023. What was going to be a usual protest of retirees in front of the Argentine Congress, supported by football fans, unions and social movements, ended with the arrest of a hundred people and A photographer who received the impact of a tear gas cartridge on the head.
Retirees, who are mostly in poverty for their low income, They claim an update of pensionsthe restitution of the coverage of medicines and the continuity of the pension moratorium, which expires this March and that gave pension to those people without enough quoted years.
So far, official sources have confirmed that There are 103 detainees and 20 injuredamong them the photographer who is in a very serious state.
And among the detainees there are seven trade unionists of the State Workers Association (ATE).
Unprecedented police charge
Argentine photographer Pablo Grillo is the first victim of police repression. Is in serious condition after receiving this Wednesday The impact of a tear gas cartridge in the headwhich caused a skull fracture, as confirmed by his father, Fabián Grillo.
Grillo was triggered when Tomas of the Police made in the Argentine Congress Square where a great repression was unleashed against the protesters who came to support the demands of retirees
It all started around 4:30 p.m. local time (20:30 in Spain), when hundreds of police officers, stationed early in the immediate vicinity of Congress, loaded against the protesters who cut in a peaceful way the Rivadavia and Hipólito Yrigoyen avenues, in the center of Buenos Aires.
The agents sprayed with tear gas and beat with sticks To those who protested until the Entre Ríos Avenue, which crosses the square where the imposing legislative building is clear. Some citizens responded by throwing stones.
Minutes later a truck toured the avenue to Bartolomé Miter expelling strong water jets. There, another group of protesters tried to approach the square and sang songs against the government and security forces, with lyrics like “how sad it should be to hit a retiree to eat”, “Milei, you are the dictatorship” or “that they all leave.”
Those who approached Congress, where it is already a tradition to see retirees demonstrate every Wednesday, felt the itching of gas in the eyes, nostrils and throat.
Héctor, who carried a sign with the phrase “Enough of silent genocide” said that it charges the minimum retirement (less than $ 300 per month): “We are defending our rights and we want Let this Hungry Government leave”
Liliana, another usual on Wednesday, approached one of the officers and shouted: “What role as they treat us. They go to help Bahía Blanca (city where there has been great flood) instead of repressing. ”
“They are armed to the teeth against retirees,” he lamented in statements to the press.
The fans with retirees
Fans of different soccer teams, even rivals, They joined for the same cause. Carlos, 75 and a fan of Chacarita Juniors, is one of them: “If I have to lose my life fighting as a retiree I will lose it, but my children and my grandchildren are going to be free, this homeland does not deserve what we have in the government,” he said.
A young woman said she had gone to Congress on behalf of her mother and grandparents: “What they are doing with grandparents is impressive, you can’t afford, you have to stop this.”
The police began to load against people around 5:00 p.m. local time (21:00 in Spain).
The EFE agency witnessed how Beatriz Bianco, 87, was pushed by a policemanthat hit her head against the asphalt and ended in the hospital.
The protesters began to retreat before the police burden and They headed towards the Casa RosadaHeadquarters of the Government, but a group of motorized police raised the vehicles to the sidewalks to pursue them.
On May Avenue appeared overturned and on fire a police vehicle from the City of Buenos Aires and, in that environment, several protesters incredible to others accusing them of being infiltrated and causing the disturbances.
A known repression
During the advanced police, a group was protected on the mythical Callao Avenue, including a man with red eyes for the effect of gases, who, drowned in tears, told Efe: “They are destroying the country, We had this repression many times. “
Pablo, with a west railway club shirt, was protected with his partner, from Boca, from police violence, while lamented by the situation of retirees: “They cannot live with what they are charging.”
At dusk, the Police returned to take Rivadavia Avenue and pushed a group of retirees.
The initiative to accompany on Wednesday the elderly in their protest arose after the events that occurred just one week, when a 75 -year -old Chacarita Juniors fan was sprayed with gases and beaten by the police, until he breaks his wrist.
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