From David Christian
Date Sun, 30 Dec 2001 09:13:38 -0500 (EST)
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A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
http://www.ainfos.ca/
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December 29, 2001
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 3:58 a.m. ET
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Riot police fired barrages of tear gas
and rubber bullets early Saturday at rock-throwing demonstrators as a
large but peaceful protest against government austerity measures
degenerated into violence.
As acrid clouds of tear gas wafted over the Government House,
shirtless youths counterattacked police, throwing sticks and stones,
as street battles raged. It marked a second week of social unrest
after deadly riots toppled President Fernando De la Rua on Dec. 21.
After the demonstrators were pushed out of the Plaza de Mayo, a group
of them made their way up one of Argentina's main avenues, looting a
fast-food chain and smashing up several banks, on their way to the
Congress building a mile away.
There, vandals smashed several windows and broke in the doors at the
main entrance, before setting light to a couple of curtains, sending
smoke spilling out of the ornate century-old legislative building.
Several people entered the building and grabbed sofas and chairs,
which they threw down the steps leading up to the main entrance.
Dozens of riot police with shields reacted quickly, moving in and
unleashing a fresh round of tear gas and rubber bullets. Moments
later, firefighters arrived and put out the still-smouldering fires.
Argentine television station TN reported that seven police officers
were injured.
The violence began on the fringes of what was for hours a largely
peaceful, but raucous pot-banging protest by middle-class Argentines
fed up with government attempts to end a deep economic crisis.
Police intervened early Saturday when some demonstrators climbed on
the front gates of the Government House, an ornate pink palace also
known as the Casa Rosada, and appeared to try to force their way in.
The protests marked the second week of anger by Argentines struggling
in the face of a four-year-old economic crisis that saw a caretaker
government led by President Adolfo Rodriguez Saa default on the $132
billion national debt.
The protest began after Argentines flooded the banks Friday, forming
long lines and shouting for their money after the government eased a
five-day banking holiday that had shut off most routine financial
transactions.
As the raucous pan-beating protest spread from barrio to barrio,
thousands of people entered the Plaza de Mayo square fronting the
Government Palace, scene of deadly riots last week. Hundreds more
gathered outside Congress nearby.
“Give us back our money!” people chanted, while others voiced
complaints about corruption in government. “Out with the thieves!”
One demonstrator, Maria Luisa Lerer, 64, said anger over the banking
restrictions and a failed attempt to overturn them in the courts
stoked the protest. Some 1,000 people gathered outside the government
palace and on street corners in rejection of government economic
policies.
“We want our money. They are robbing the people,” said Lerer. “This
is unjust!”
Rodriguez Saa took office in Buenos Aires Sunday after protests drove
out de la Rua two days earlier. He had no immediate comment on the
unrest after he and Cabinet ministers entered emergency meetings at
his official residence, Olivos, in the capital's northern suburbs.
Amid the violence, news reports said his Cabinet chief, Carlos Grosso,
had submitted his resignation.
Depositors were enraged after the days-old government said it would
maintain a freeze imposed Dec. 1 that limits bank cash withdrawals to
$1,000 a month.
President Bush said Friday that the United States is “willing to
offer technical assistance through the IMF” to help Argentina develop
“a plan that sustains economic growth. He said he had discussed the
Argentine situation in recent calls to the leaders of Mexico, Uruguay,
Chile and Brazil.
Hoping to ease social tensions that saw 26 people killed in riots last
week, the government is also preparing to roll out a third currency
that is leaving many Argentines skeptical.
Rodriguez Saa moved to finalize a congressional bill authorizing the
creation of the “argentino” — a new money he says will breathe new
life into an economy suffocating under four years of recession.
Scheduled to debut on Jan. 15, the argentino will circulate alongside
the peso and dollar as Argentina looks to print money as a way out of
a cash crunch brought on by a prolonged economic crisis.
But many Argentines fear the value of the free-floating currency,
backed by little more than a pledge of state support, will quickly
depreciate. For nearly a decade, the peso has been firmly pegged
one-to-one with the dollar, but as the crisis has deepened its value
too has begun to fall at some exchange houses.
With reserves shrinking, Rodriguez Saa has signaled he will not be
able to back the argentino with the country's dollar supply, which for
years has held up the value of the peso. The argentino's worth will be
determined on the street.
Nearly one out of five Argentines is out of work, and Rodriguez Saa
has said he wants to re-ignite the economy by creating more than 1
million jobs paying around $200 a month.
Meanwhile, the Buenos Aires stock market reopened Friday for the first
time since deadly rioting and looting forced Fernando De la Rua from
office last week. The Merval Index of leading shares was off 7.8
percent at closing.
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Dictatorship is no child of the labour movement, but a
regrettable inheritance from the bourgeoisie
Rudolph Rocker