Argentine police on Wednesday evening used tear gas against those who disagreed with the “shock” reform of the country’s President Javier Miley, which leads to a significant increase in prices, Nacion reports.
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As reported by the Nacion newspaper, citing activists, law enforcement officers even deployed a truck with a water cannon.
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On Wednesday, Argentine lawmakers began considering reforms. At the same time, protesters began to gather near the Congress building. A large number of security forces were deployed to ensure security. As discussions continued, tensions began to rise outside the parliament building, with clashes between law enforcement officers and protesters.
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“Activists reported to the press about ‘beatings’ and the use of ‘tear gas’ by security forces,” the publication said.
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At least six people were reportedly detained as a result of clashes with security forces. According to Nacion, one of the detainees is a 30-year-old man of Chilean nationality, he has been charged with resisting and assaulting a security officer. The rest of the detainees are women. They refused to obey police orders.
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In December, Miley signed an emergency decree on more than 300 reforms to liberalize the economy, they affect all areas and involve serious cuts in spending. These reforms were formalized in a package of bills sent to parliament at the end of December. The changes were discussed in various commissions of the lower house of parliament for almost a month and caused dissatisfaction among many citizens and politicians. On Wednesday, the lower house of parliament began discussing reforms.
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In order for the package of bills to be adopted, the authorities decided to remove a number of articles from it. As a result, it was cut in half.
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Earlier it was reported that after 11 hours of meeting, Argentine deputies announced a break in considering the president’s reforms; the discussion will resume on Thursday. Speaker of the lower house of parliament Martin Menem noted that consideration of reforms could take 3-4 days.
