Argentina’s hardline security minister is facing calls to resign after the violent police response to a protest by pensioners left a photographer in a coma and scores of other people injured.
More than 1,000 riot police used teargas, rubber bullets and water cannons to disperse demonstrators late on Wednesday.
Retirees gather every week in front of Congress to demand an increase in pensions and the restoration of certain free medications, which have been hit by President Javier Milei’s austerity programme.
This week the number of protesters swelled after fans from some of the country’s biggest football clubs, including Boca Juniors and River Plate, joined the rally.
To the sound of trumpets and drums, elderly marchers waved walking sticks and signs reading: “Don’t hit us, we are your parents,” and “Help me fight – you’ll be the next elderly person.”
But violence soon erupted with columns of riot police releasing a near-constant stream of teargas, and shooting water cannons and rubber bullets at demonstrators. Around 5.30pm officers drove into the crowds on motorbikes, pointing guns at the demonstrators and causing hundreds to flee.
Footage circulating on social media showed an elderly woman being hit with a baton and being knocked to the ground, her head soon covered in blood. In another, an elderly man wearing a football shirt is seen being beaten by police.
A freelance photographer and activist was also left in a critical condition, after being hit in the head with a teargas canister. Pablo Grillo reportedly suffered a skull fracture and loss of brain mass, a graphic photo of which was shared online. The 35-year-old was rushed to a hospital where he underwent emergency surgery and remains in an induced coma.
His father, Fabián Grillo, blamed the president and national security minister, Patricia Bullrich, and said: “My son’s life is in danger.” Bullrich responded by calling the photographer an activist.
The Argentinian Graphic Reporters Association (aRGra) is demanding Bullrich’s resignation. “Today our former student was vilely and seriously injured by security forces,” their statement said. “We demand that the president of the republic immediately remove her and her subordinates from office and bring them to justice. Otherwise we make him [Milei] morally, politically and criminally complicit in the crimes committed by his minister.”
Hundreds of people protested peacefully, chanting from the sidelines. But others threw stones, firecrackers and bottles at police containment lines. A police van and rubbish cans were also set ablaze. Al Jazeera reported that a police officer had been shot.
Preliminary figures from the independent human rights group Comisión Nacional por la Memoria suggest more than 500 people were injured.
More than 100 people were detained, authorities said, with Bullrich alleging on TV that organised and violent football fans had turned up “prepared to kill”.
Axel Kicillof, the opposition governor of Buenos Aires province, condemned the government’s “ferocious, illegal and premeditated” repression of the protest. “While a photographer fights for his life, government spokespeople lie, justify violence, and spread hatred. This authoritarian rampage must be urgently curbed,” he said.
Retirees were described as the biggest losers during Milei’s first year in office, with pension increases falling significantly under inflation and the list of free medications being cut.
Nearly 60% of retirees receive only the minimum pension payment, which amounts to approximately $340 a month. From 23 March, those who have not completed 30 years of contributions will reportedly be unable to access the retirement pot – estimates suggest thousands will be affected.
Liliana Morono, a 73-year-old pensioner and grandmother, attended Wednesday’s protest for the first time. “Milei’s government is reducing our money every month, we can’t live, we can’t buy medications,” she said.
“I can’t understand how any Argentinian could vote for this crazy man who is so sick and full of hate. He has created a clash, a division, across our country,” she added.
Manuel Adorni, the presidential spokesperson, dismissed the demonstration as a politically motivated stunt.
Bullrich said: “In Argentina, the law rules, not the hooligans or the left.”
