Water cannons and tear gas in Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires: Because the public prosecutor’s office is demanding a long prison sentence for the left-wing vice-president, protests are stirring among her supporters.
After serious allegations against Argentine Vice President Cristina Kirchner in corruption proceedings, police officers and supporters got into violent clashes in front of the former head of state’s apartment (2007-2015). Followers of the left-wing politician knocked down roadblocks in the capital, Buenos Aires, as was seen on television. The officers then used water cannon and tear gas.
In the recent trial against Kirchner, the public prosecutor’s office had demanded twelve years in prison and a lifelong ban from public office. She is said to have been the leader of a criminal organization and brought the state around a billion US dollars. Together with her late husband and ex-president Néstor Kirchner, she procured a whole series of public contracts for a friend of hers, without a tender. Part of the excessive construction costs flowed back to the Kirchners later.
After the closing speech at the beginning of the week, numerous supporters of Kirchner gathered in front of their apartment out of solidarity; some camped on the sidewalks of the fashionable Recoleta neighborhood. After complaints from neighbors, the police cleared the section of road and set up barriers. President Alberto Fernández criticized the operation. “I condemn the institutional violence used by the city administration against a demonstration by citizens fighting for freedom and democracy,” the head of state wrote on Twitter.
The opposition mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta opposed this at a press conference. “Demonstrations are one thing,” he said in a speech at City Hall. “A systematic plan to take over public space is something completely different. We cannot accept that.”
Source: Stern
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