BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) -Dozens of people were injured during a protest outside Argentina’s Congress on Wednesday where activists and retired Argentines demanded higher pensions, according to Reuters witnesses.
TV footage showed elderly protesters and activists singing and chanting as security forces pushed through the crowd in Buenos Aires with riot shields and batons.
The protest took place outside Congress as deputies failed to reach quorum for several bills, including proposals for pension increases and continuity of benefits for retirees.
The government of libertarian President Javier Milei, which has sought to improve the economy and tackle painfully high inflation by slashing public spending, opposed both proposals.
Milei’s austerity drive has triggered weekly protests in the capital, with workers’ unions and soccer fans joining retirees to protest pension cuts amid stubborn inflation and reduced public spending.
“This place, the home of democracy, cannot remain indifferent when a pensioner is earning 379,000 pesos (about $331 a month),” lawmaker Paula Oliveto of the center Civic Coalition party said during the Congress session.
Some 124 lawmakers were present for voting while 133 were absent.
Esteban Paulon, a Socialist Party representative, accused lawmakers who supported the government’s policies of laughing when the session failed due to lack of quorum.
“The government’s plan is evidently to kill millions of people collecting minimum wage through hunger,” he said.
The government argues that its resources are limited and to increase pensions, the country must first see more investment and economic growth.
Around 38% of people in South America’s No. 2 economy were in poverty – 11.3 million people – in the second half of last year, according to government data. This was down from 53% recorded in the first half.
($1 = 1,146.0000 Argentine pesos)
(Reporting by Eliana Raszewski, Juan Bustamante, Miguel Lo Bianco and Nina Lopez; Writing by Sarah Morland; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
