2023-12-23 08:30:16
The organizers of the first protest against the government of the new Argentine President Javier Milei are to be made to pay for the police operation during the demonstration.
Government spokesman Manuel Adorni said yesterday that the deployment of police, federal police and paramilitaries cost 60 million pesos (almost 68,000 euros). The invoice would be sent to the organizers, who would have to cover the costs “which should not be imposed on the citizens”.
Threatening withdrawal of social benefits
Thousands of people took part in the demonstration on Wednesday to protest against the austerity measures of the ultra-liberal right-wing populist Milei. They also commemorated the deadly protests in 2001 that followed the country’s economic collapse.
AP/Mario De Fina
The organizers of the protests criticized the large presence of security forces as an attempt at provocation. Milei’s government said it would crack down on hundreds of traffic-blocking demonstrations a year in the capital Buenos Aires and threatened to withdraw welfare benefits from people who block roads.
Milei, who was elected in November, promised “shock therapy” for heavily indebted Argentina when he took office on December 10th. The 53-year-old political newcomer took over Latin America’s third-largest economy in the midst of a severe economic crisis. Inflation has risen to more than 160 percent and more than 40 percent of the population lives in poverty.
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