Violence Returns To Argentina

BBC ^

[RCW2001]

Saturday, 29 December, 2001, 08:41 GMT

Violence returns to Argentina

Protesters banged pots and pans

Police in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires have used tear gas and water cannons to disperse thousands of protesters, less than a week after a new government came into office to deal with the country's economic crisis.

Demonstrators broke into the Congress building in the early hours of Saturday, setting fire to curtains and breaking furniture.

A bank and a McDonalds restaurant were also ransacked, and one of the main railway stations was attacked.

Protesters were angry that the new government has maintained emergency restrictions on withdrawing money from banks.

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All the politicians are as corrupt as each other and all we can do is take to the streets to protest
Argentinean protester

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They also complained that some members of the new government had links with previous regimes' corruption.

The protests triggered the first resignation from the new government when Carlos Grosso, newly appointed as chief adviser to the cabinet, stepped down.

Show of anger

Amid occasional violence, two policemen were reported to have been injured after police in riot gear cleared the plaza in front of the government building where protesters had gathered.

However the Associated Press news agency reported that teenagers continued to throw stones at police once the crowd dispersed.

People had congregated in the early hours of the morning, bashing saucepans and drums.

Waving the national flag, they came from all directions to gather in the Plaza de Mayo in the centre of Buenos Aires in front of the government house.

Others headed for the nearby congress building waving their shirts in the air on a hot and humid night.

The demonstrators, in what appears to be a spontaneous show of anger, said they were demanding an end to corruption.

Their anger is directed at the country's economic crisis and the interim Peronist government of President Adolfo Rodriguez Saa, who came to office following the resignation of former president Fernando de la Rua.

Mr de la Rua resigned after street protests and rioting triggered by economic hardship left at least 25 people dead.

Mr Rodriguez Saa announced new measures to control the economic crisis including a suspension of foreign debt payments and plans to provide cash to cope with poverty and unemployment.

Economic chaos

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Argentina's economic woes
Public foreign debts of $132bn
Unemployment at 18%
Economy in recession for four years
Savers only allowed to withdraw $1,000 a month in cash
2,000 people drop below poverty line each day
Pensions to 1.4m retirees delayed

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The violence subsided for a few days, but returned to the capital on Friday when protestors set light to a train and damaged one of the main railway stations in Buenos Aires.

Fire fighters arriving at the scene were pelted with stones and rubbish bins.

Some analysts say the new populist government is searching for quick solutions to placate a population which has been plunged from a relatively wealthy society into economic chaos.

"It is just too much," said one protester.

"All the politicians are as corrupt as each other and all we can do is take to the streets to protest."

The BBC's Daniel Schweimler, in Buenos Aires, says the patience of many Argentines with their political leaders has now worn very thin.

[NativeNewYorker]

The debt is mostly held as securities now, and those are now trading at default prices. The banks as a class are losing money, though some suits get nice bonuses for endlessly "restructuring" the paper.