Thousands protest austerity measures of Argentina's new president Milei

Milei, a right-wing populist, is facing first test of how his administration responds to demonstrations against economic shock measures, which he says are needed to address Argentina's severe crisis

Protests began Wednesday against the austerity and deregulation measures announced by Argentina's newly elected President Javier Milei, whose government had also warned against blocking streets.

For years it has been common for protesters in Argentina to block streets for long periods of time; while Milei's administration has said it will allow protests, it threatened to cut off public aid payments to anyone who blocks thoroughfares.

Marchers began gathering in Buenos Aires, the capital, and set out toward the iconic Plaza de Mayo, the scene of protests dating back to the country's 1980s dictatorship. Police struggled to keep marchers from taking over the entire boulevard.

 

Eduardo Belliboni, one of the march's organisers, said demonstrators faced an enormous repressive apparatus. Belliboni's left-wing Polo Obrero group has a long history of leading street blockades.

Belliboni claimed marches wouldn't fit on the sidewalks. This (the street) is where people move around all over the world ... where are we going to fit 50,000 people?, he said.

Milei, a right-wing populist, is facing the first test of how his administration responds to demonstrations against economic shock measures, which he says are needed to address Argentina's severe crisis.

The shocks include a 50% devaluation of the Argentine peso, cuts to energy and transportation subsidies, and the closure of some government ministries. They come amid soaring inflation and rising poverty.

Protesters "can demonstrate as many times as they want. They can go to the squares .. but the streets are not going to be closed, Milei's security minister, Patricia Bullrich, told local media.

Bullrich announced a new protocol to maintain public order that allows federal forces to clear people blocking streets without a judicial order and authorises the police to identify through video or digital means people protesting and obstructing public thoroughfares. It can bill them for the cost of mobilising security forces.

Some groups say the protocol goes too far and criminalises the right to protest.

Hours before the protest, police officers were deployed in downtown Buenos Aires and other parts of the city but mainly at the entrances to the capital and some public transportation stations.

Argentine labour, social and human rights groups on Tuesday signed a petition asking the United Nations and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to intercede against the new public order procedures. The document states that the security protocol is incompatible with the rights to free assembly and association, freedom of expression and social protest recognized in the country's constitution.

On Monday, the government announced that people who block streets could be removed from the public assistance benefit lists if they are on one.

To the beneficiaries of social plans: know that no one can force you to go to a march under threat of taking away your plan, said Sandra Pettovello, head of the newly created Human Capital Ministry, which combines what were the ministries of Labor, Education and Social Development.

Protesting is a right, but so is the right of people to move freely through Argentine territory to go to their workplace," she said.

In Argentina, some people receive social support directly from the government, but others get support through social organisations with direct links to federal offices. Milei's administration says that many of these groups use this as a way to force people to go out to protests in exchange for support.

Wednesday's march coincides with the 22nd anniversary of a protest against the government's handling of an economic crisis that left dozens dead and led to the resignation of then-President Fernando de la Ra.

A recent poll by the University of Buenos Aires' Observatory of Applied Social Psychology indicated that 65% of those surveyed agree with banning the blockades.

Milei, a 53-year-old economist who rose to fame on television with profanity-laden tirades against what he called the political caste, became president with the support of Argentines disillusioned with the economic crisis.

Argentina has an annual inflation rate of 161%, and four out of every 10 people are poor. The South American country also faces a $45 billion debt owed to the International Monetary Fund.