Argentina will not allow street closures or blockades as a form of protest: "The force will be graduated in proportion to the resistance"

The Argentine Government warned this Thursday that the security forces will not allow street and highway closures or blockades of companies from now on as a form of social or union protest.. “The streets are not taken. We are going to organize the country so that people live in peace,” said the Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich, at a press conference, when presenting the new protocol for maintaining public order in the face of the closure of traffic routes.

Bullrich assured that there will be severe sanctions for those who carry out cuts, organize them, instigate or are “complicit” in these. The new protocol is presented in a delicate social and economic scenario in Argentina, where about 45% of the population is poor and where the Executive of Javier Milei, leader of the far-right party La Libertad Avanza and who assumed the Presidency on December 10 December, has just launched tough adjustment measures in a context of inflation of 160.9% year-on-year.

Against this backdrop, social organizations called for mobilizations for December 20, the anniversary of the violent protests of 2001, which occurred during an explosive economic crisis and ended with the resignation of the then president, the radical Fernando de la Rúa (1999). -2001).

“Without order there is no freedom. And, without freedom, there is no progress,” said Bullrich, who warned that “whoever does it, pays for it” and that protests will only be allowed “on the sidewalk.”. “The State is not going to pay for the use of security forces. The organizations that have legal status or their individuals will have to pay,” said the minister, so those who organize the marches will be the ones who will pay for the security operations.. “The responsible organizations or individuals will be billed.”

The minister explained that the four federal security forces and the Federal Penitentiary Service will intervene in the face of cuts, pickets or blockades, whether partial or total, regardless of whether the protesters leave alternative routes for traffic or not, and the troops will act until they completely leave free movement assured.

“To carry out these measures, the forces will use the minimum necessary and sufficient force and it will be graduated in proportion to the resistance,” he stated.. Organizers of protests with cuts will have to face the costs of security operations. Likewise, security forces will be able to act at train stations to seize “material” from protests, as well as stop “hooded men” or citizens who are seen heading to the protests “trying not to be recognized.”

Children will also not be allowed to take part in the demonstrations, and the Court will be notified in case of “environmental damage” if tires are burned.. In addition, the portfolio will transfer information to the National Migration Directorate in the case of foreign protesters with provisional residence.