Wednesday’s skirmishes resulted in dozens of arrests and at least 45 people being injured, including freelancer Pablo Grillo, who was hit in the head with a projectile while covering the event. He fell to the ground, his head bleeding.
Grillo, 35, was taken to hospital for surgery, and “the situation is very serious,” said his father Fabian Grillo, who blamed security forces and the government.
Police have not said who fired the projectile that injured the journalist, who was “fighting for his life,” according to Buenos Aires mayor Jorge Macri Thursday.
Football fans, labor unions and social organizations turned out in solidarity Wednesday for a weekly march by Argentine pensioners protesting a steep drop in their quality of life in recent years, especially under budget-slashing President Javier Milei.
Columns of riot police on foot, backed by officers on motorbikes, used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon on protesters who threw firecrackers, stun grenades and stones taken from broken-up sidewalks.
A patrol car and garbage cans were set on fire and several streets barricaded with debris.
Macri accused “highly organized violent groups” of creating disturbances and said damage amounted to about $240,000.
The injured included 20 police officers, authorities said. Ninety-four people were arrested.
Security Minister Patricia Bullrich has defended the police response and told the LN+ broadcaster that some among the protesters “came prepared to kill.”
About Grillo, she claimed he was a “Kirchnerist activist,” referring to a leftist opposition leader.
Milei’s chief of cabinet, Guillermo Francos, on Thursday likened the demonstration to “a sort of coup d’etat” of which the injury to Grillo was an “unforeseen accident.”
The Association of Graphic Reporters of Argentina (ARGRA), with which Grillo is associated, condemned the police action, demanding President Milei fire Bullrich and her subordinates and have them investigated.
As midnight fell after Wednesday’s skirmishes, residents of Buenos Aires expressed their disapproval of Milei’s government with a spontaneous pot-banging protest, while hundreds marched on the seat of government from various points of the city, demanding Milei and Bullrich step down.
