Very serious incidentsoriginated especially by left-wing groups and picketers who participated in the mobilization at the Plaza del Congreso, occurred this Wednesday in the middle of a day of extreme tension in which the Senate debated, with numerous changes, Javier’s Bases Law project Milei.
Burned cars and containers, Molotov cocktail explosions and clashes between protesters and the Police They continued for long hours, leaving a balance of 23 detainees, according to official sources, and at least 20 security personnel injured, including the Police and Gendarmerie. Security Minister Patricia Bullrich told Clarion that the operation “was perfect”,
From early on, the protesters who were stationed in front of Congress, on the corner of Rivadavia and Callao, began to throw stones, bottles, eggs and blocks of ice at the journalists present and at the Police who, with extensive fencing up to Yrigoyen Street, tried to dissuade them. , first through containment and later with water hydrant trucks and rubber bullets.
Among the left-wing groups that participated in the acts of violence, thel Polo Obrero, the FOL, the Nuevo Mas and the MST, among others, although on the other side groups linked to Kirchnerism such as Barrios de Pie and the Evita Movement, among others, also tried to tear down the fence. The Government listed more than 30 of them in a list that was released to the media.
On a day where tension was felt early on, with constant bomb explosions and systematic attacks on security forces, the first episode of clashes occurred around 1:00 p.m., when a group of Prefectural agents advanced along Entre Ríos Avenue to Callao and Miter, where they stood with shields, with the intention of driving away the militants who were in the place and who responded with shoves, some bottle-banging and insults.
It was there when the troops used pepper spray against the attacks and opposition deputies who approached the tumult, such as Eduardo Valdés, Luis Basterra and Juan Manuel Pedrini, had to be removed and transferred to the Santa Lucía hospital with burns to their eyes. In parallel, from within the Senate, Kirchnerism demanded the suspension of the session, something they tried throughout the afternoon, without success. According to the Minister of City Security, Waldo Wolff, One of the protesters who was later arrested was found to have a grenade in his possession..
At 3:30 p.m. the situation became even more tense, when on the corner of Rivadavia and Callao, near the Monday cafe, the protesters managed to knock down some fences and clashed with the Police. It was at that moment that in the face of attacks with projectiles and Molotov cocktails from Security, water cannons began to be used in an attempt to decompress the crowd.
The peak of tension was recorded at four in the afternoon, when almost on the corner of Yrigoyen, a group of protesters turned around and set fire to a car belonging to the Cordoba journalistic outlet Cadena 3. A journalist from that radio station in Córdoba was also attacked, in the midst of another escalation of attacks and the intervention of firefighters to put out the fire.
The Ministry of Security released the name of the two people who burned the vehicle, who were arrested. One was identified as Lucas Ezequiel Bálsamo, Argentine, single, 23 years old, unemployed and residing in La Matanza, province of Buenos Aires. The other, also a native of La Matanza, single and unemployed, but 24 years old, was Dylan Gustavo Gómez.
The burning of that car was a kind of trigger for the Police, who began shooting rubber bullets shortly after and dispersing the protesters towards the Avenida de Mayo area. Until six in the afternoon, at least, there were moments of extreme tension, with clashes that lasted until July 9 and dozens of people locked up in the bars in the area.on alert because of the rubber bullets and also because the protesters set fire to other vehicles and garbage containers that they found in their path.
After that, as there were fewer protesters in the Congress area, the clashes began to subside, although they continued until late into the night, with less intensity. Around 9 p.m., there were a few protesters left who were waiting for the general vote to be held to disapprove of the police procedure, which Bullrich had previously evaluated, speaking with Clarion and on social networks.
“We went to protect Congress and they responded with stones and fires. We responded immediately. Now they will pay one by one for the damage caused and the burned car of Cadena 3, with a cause that will not be minor. Because with us the one who he does, he pays for them,” the minister tweeted, with a photo showing a large stone on the street in front of Congress.
