Retiree protests in Argentina: how would violence originate and intensify?

The demonstration, considered one of the strongest since Javier Milei assumed the presidency in December 2023, ended with more than a hundred detainees and about 50 injured, including the graphic journalist Pablo Grillo, who continues in serious condition with a fracture in the skull after receiving the impact of a tear gas cartridge in the head.

The Government justified repressive acts pointing out that it was a situation of extreme gravity urged by the opposition forces with the aim of destabilizing the current regime. “In short, what is intended is a kind of coup d’etat”Said Guillermo Francos, head of the Cabinet at the Milei Administration.

For its part, the Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich, declared in a television interview that Some people who participated in the demonstration belonged to the “brave bars”, the most violent sectors of the fans, and who “were prepared to kill”. “Surely many of them had a criminal record,” he said.

The truth is that the day has aroused a new wave of protests, with protesters subsequently presenting in front of the Casa Rosada, the presidential residence, to express its anger with the ruler to the rhythm of cacerolazos.

A historical fight

Retiree protests in front of the Argentine Congress are not new. Since 1991, generations of older adults – then led by activists as a Pin Standard – have presented each Wednesday at the headquarters of the Legislative to claim, among other things, for the gradual decrease in their purchasing power and its benefits.

These protests are so historical that even the missing star of the football Diego Armando Maradona spoke in 1992 in favor of the protesters: “I defend the retirees, how am I not going to defend them? If we have to be very ‘shit’ not to defend retirees, ” The footballer then said in a television interview.

These demonstrations have increased after the arrival of Milei to the Presidency, who although with his policies has reducing inflation from 211.4% in 2023 to 117.8% today and getting a fiscal surplus, This has also led to the stoppage of public works and the disappearance of many benefits for retirees, such as free drug cuts.

Despite these circumstances, the demonstrations were made week by week in a relatively peaceful way, with isolated clashes between those who protested and the police, but the level seen last Wednesday exceeded the expected.

The fire spark

“The trigger was very banal, and it is that a few weeks ago, in one of the marches of the retirees, the photo of one of the protesters with the Juniors’ shirt (club that militates today in the Second Division) that was injured today) that was injured,” Juan Negri, Argentine political scientist of the Torcuato Di Tella University. “Then the fans of this club decided to accompany the retirees, which was creating the perception that it was going to be a march with the presence of the brave bars and the government reacted to this possibility unfolding their entire security apparatus”.

Giving strength to this idea is the fact that during the demonstration on Wednesday 12 you could see t -shirts and symbols of clubs such as Boca Juniors, River Plate, San Lorenzo, Racing, Vélez, Hurricane, among several others. Although in dialogue with this newspaper, the Argentine political scientist Santiago Rodríguez Rey warned that it is still a bit premature to say that the brave bars had a true presence in the protests.

“To confirm that the brave bars were present in the demonstrations, their leaders would have to be,” says the political communication expert. “And while there were people with the shirts (club t -shirts) or other identification, there was not necessarily the brave bars group as the government said.”

In the opinion of the specialist, it remains as part of the government duty to identify what was the presence of these groups in the demonstration, taking into account that their leaders are well known.

Football fans were not the only ones who joined the demonstrations, With the Premier Guillermo Francos accusing Kirchnerism and the Peronist organization La Cámpora of being behind the excessespossibility that was not denied by the experts consulted.

“It is true that there are sectors contrary to the government that see every opportunity to weaken it in some way,” says Juan Negri. “Then it is suspected that in the march of last Wednesday there were also leftist groups and other political parties with the covered face”

The reality is that the repression was not surprising, with the Minister Bullrich, deploying the security forces early in the vicinity of the Congress and the Casa Rosada, a work in which it was protected in the new “antipiquetes protocol” that was established upon arrival to the power of Milei and that enables federal security forces to intervene without the need for a court that they do not use lethal weapons.

The scenes of violence spread around the world, with protesters using stones and other objects against security forces, which responded with canes, tear gas and rubber bullets.

In total, more than 124 people were arrested and at least 46 were injured, including 26 police. Despite the situation, Bullrich considered that the police operation was “adequate.” “Those who generate violence will have the repression of the State in response,” warned the official at a press conference.

But for Juan Negri, the traumatic memory of certain demonstrations during the presidency of Mauricio Macri (2015-2019), a period in which Bullrich was also in charge of the National Security portfolio. “I believe that the government was seen in the mirror of the presidency of Macri, which at the time had mass and violent marches, and what the Milei administration now seeks is to impose its authority to give the perception that with these marches its power will not weaken”, Highlights.

A similarity also highlighted by Macri himself, who used his account in X to highlight parallels between the demonstrations that occurred during his government and Wednesday 12.

“Yesterday, in an identical scene, they mobilized with the name of ‘Argentine fans’ to Barrabravas of different soccer teams to execute a new destabilization of democracy. Shielded in a few retirees, the Barrabravas put into practice the three movements that repeat in these situations: provoke the police, attack and victimize it, ”said the ex -president for the social network. “The final objective they pursue is to create in public opinion an image of crazy state violence against innocent and workers who justify interrupting the democratic order. That is why yesterday they said “this is not democracy”, “you have to take them out, now” and other slogans similar coupists. “

The beginning of something new?

And while there may be parallel with the past, last Wednesday’s protests also generated what could be a new pattern for the Milei government, as Santiago Rodríguez Rey notes.

“The different thing is that after the march, at night there were some cacerolazos and also a small, but important group, of people who independently approached the Casa Rosada to protest, something that had not happened in previous demonstrations”, He points out.

For the specialist, it is still difficult to determine if the following protests will have the same magnitude as the excesses of this week and that this will depend on whether the militants and sports fans will join the marches again.

“The presence of the brave bars in the protests suggests that the demonstration was thought with violence, at least that is one of the arguments that the government wields when trying to disable the breeding ground. This can, from now on, take more marches like these and surely in the next marches there will also be an expectation of violence, which will have to do if the government manages to reduce it, ”he considers.

For his part, Juan Negri estimates that The Government will probably want to repeat the reaction to Wednesday’s protest, since it leaves them very prone to be called authoritarian, violent and repressive by their critics and for the opposition.

“I believe that the Government leaves a complicated history, because although it is true, public order must be maintained and the right of protest has to be channeled through freedoms such as free transit, I think it has given a bad sign because it leaves the opposition served a political strategy that is to try to generate an image of a government that represses,” says Negri.

“If all this triggers a wave of social agitation, violence and demonstrations with all that implies, the image of the government will obviously be affected. But on the other hand, if the government manages to convince the public that this is a strategy of the Peronist party and the economic situation continues to improve, there are possibilities that it does not affect it so much, ”he adds.

An opinion shared by his colleague, Santiago Rodriguez Rey, who although notes that scandals and recent problems such as those of the $ Libra cryptoc the popular inflation reduction that the libertarian leader has maintained throughout his mandate.

“The anchor that the Government promised to keep firm continues there, everything else generates noise. And where public opinion is going to shoot that noise, it is still very early to know, ”concludes Rodríguez Rey.