Riot police disperse protesters ahead of key Senate vote

BUENOS AIRES (AP):

Argentine riot police fired water cannons and tear gas to disperse protesters outside the country’s Congress on Wednesday, escalating tensions before lawmakers were to vote on state overhaul and tax bills proposed by President Javier Milei.

The vote is the most serious test to date of the libertarian leader’s vision of governance and change.

Thousands of demonstrators had converged around Congress as Senate opened debate on the key legislation, urging lawmakers to reject Milei’s programme of harsh austerity and economic deregulation.

The carnival atmosphere that prevailed in downtown Buenos Aires earlier in the day – with protesters playing trumpets, grilling meat on impromptu barbecues and chanting raucously – quickly turned as crowds jostled and shoved against the column of police armed with shields and batons.

Security forces backed by armoured cars with mounted water cannons pushed back protesters that surged toward cordoned-off streets in the country’s capital. Facing resistance as some protesters threw stones and other objects, hundreds of police officers unleashed water canons and tear gas.

There were no immediate reports of arrests or injuries in the ensuing scuffles. Earlier in the day, police had used pepper spray to clear away a line of protesters, sending at least four opposition lawmakers into the hospital, according to their political party Unión por la Patria.

Milei rose to power on promises he would solve Argentina’s worst economic crisis in two decades. But his political party of relative novices holds just a tiny minority of seats in Congress and he has struggled to strike deals with the opposition.

Senators began debating two bills on Wednesday, a tax package that lowers the income tax threshold and a 238-article state reform bill, initially dubbed the “omnibus bill” because of its more than 600 articles.

This watered-down version still delegates broad legislative powers to the president in energy, pensions and security, and includes measures to incentivise investment, deregulate the economy and trim the deficit.

Certain touchy subjects such as unions’ provision of health care and the privatisation of Argentina’s national oil company have been scrapped in hopes of reaching a compromise.