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Noelia, 27, is an employee at the Monday restaurant, which is on Callao, right in front of Confitería del Molino, one block from the National Congress. She was still shocked by what had happened yesterday. “Compared to other recent marches, this was the worst. I have been working for two years, but this was the most intense and with the most people. They broke the glass in front of the shop when we were working and we were afraid that the police tear gas would enter the premises. “A lot of people gathered where the premises are.” On the corner of Rivadavia and Entre Ríos, the fences are still stacked up and you can see the impact of where a stone caused damage to the still life.
With a pinpoint victory, the ruling party prevailed in the Senate with the “law of bases”. It was a day in which violence moved to the street with clashes between protesters and the police while the debate took place. The tiles and stone benches were chipped, garbage containers and vehicles were set on fire, including a Cadena 3 truck, and some businesses in the area were damaged.
At dawn, with the deconcentration of the social movements, the left and Kirchnerist groups, in the vicinity of Congress only testimonies remained of what the day was like. Parades and political posters against the sanction of the law, graffiti on the street smeared by water and rubble scattered in the surroundings.
According to the City Government, nine containers and 37 baskets valued at more than 30.5 million pesos were vandalized in the area. At the same time, last night the survey of the damage caused to the landscape and urban furniture began. Although it will continue today, until now there has been damage to ornamental beds; burnt grass; breakage of tile flooring, rubber flooring in the playground and concrete benches; fixed basket fire; graffiti on the base of the mast, odeons, ciboriums and benches and breaking of the fence and entry into the interior of the Monument to the Two Congresses.
Cleaning tasks, meanwhile, are in charge of the Ministry of Public Space and Urban Hygiene and has 120 street sweepers, eight pressure washers, six collection trucks, 20 supervisors, and eight immediate action brigades. The cost of the service is 62 million pesos, according to official sources.
The cleanup They started very early and by the beginning of the morning the rhythm of the day seemed normal with the subway entrances open, people occupying the bus stops, businesses that were beginning to open and neighbors leaving their houses to go to work. Beyond cleaning, The surroundings of Congress still seemed on alert: Members of the anti-explosive brigade with dogs were checking bins and mailboxes, the fences in front of the legislative headquarters remained standing, there were fire hydrant trucks and also a lot of police presence and control, especially at the main entrances to the building.
Like a normal business day in the morning, the businesses in the area raised their blinds, the building managers scrubbed the sidewalks, and the city’s street sweepers began to clean the streets and the plaza.
By 7.15. The cleaning workers began to take down the signs and parades. They removed posters with the legends “to defeat the base law” of the PCR, “the country is not for sale, no to the base law!”, “the sky is not for sale, it is defended, let’s defend Argentine airlines” and several parades of the bakers guild.
Lauro, 24, an employee of a maxi kiosk on Rivadavia Avenue, said: “Yesterday we opened the same way, but with the blinds down, we served like this. Luckily we had no problems, the most complicated part of the march was on the opposite side in Yrigoyen.”
On Yrigoyen’s side, Carlos, 54, in charge of a building that was on the sidewalk, said: “For what yesterday was the amount of dirt and destruction, the truth is that it woke up quite well; It looks like they cleaned in the early morning. Many people gathered here. Those who mobilized set fire to the bins on the block and set wood on fire, but in the early morning everything was pretty good.”
Near where he was you could see the burned containers and the destroyed tiles of the square. The main damage was seen in front of the Congress building, with tiles and plaza benches reduced to make stones, melted trash cans, and covers torn off from electrical supplies. There were no longer any signs of the burned vehicles that were removed, but in the square there were remains of the different points that were sources of bonfires.
María, 58 years old, who works in the area, was walking her two dogs this morning. “The aggression that was seen yesterday was impressive, a lot of violence against the police. This will not be resolved quickly, a very big change is needed in the country. It was very sad to experience it as a neighbor.”
The march also impacted the activity of a bakery in Rivadavia. An employee, who did not want to give her name, said: “There were no problems here but we had to close the store all afternoon so there would be no damage. “There was no choice but to close.”
