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Argentine students occupy Buenos Aires campus as protest over Milei's cuts turns violent
Thousands marched to demand university funding that Congress approved and the government has not paid, and a federal judge has begun fining the state for every day it delays.
Key points
- At least 25 people were detained as police fired tear gas outside Congress.
- A judge is fining the government 100,000 pesos a day over the funding law.
- Students at the University of Buenos Aires are occupying a faculty for a day.
Students at Argentina’s biggest public university have taken over one of its faculties, as a mass march in Buenos Aires against President Javier Milei’s spending cuts ended in clashes with police.
Thousands of people filled the centre of the capital on Thursday to demand that the government carry out a law raising funding for public universities, and called for a general strike. The protest was meant to be peaceful but turned violent: police fired tear gas and rubber bullets as protesters threw rocks, and the square in front of Congress became a battleground. At least 25 people were detained and several were injured, including members of the security forces.
A law not followed
Last year Congress overrode Milei’s vetoes to pass two laws, one increasing money for public universities and another declaring a disability emergency. The government has refused to implement them, arguing that Congress did not say how they would be paid for.
A federal judge has now begun fining the government 100,000 pesos (about $70) a day for failing to apply parts of the university financing law. It requires the state to restore salaries and scholarships eaten up by inflation, update budgets regularly and fund research, hospitals and buildings.
Inside the occupation
At the University of Buenos Aires faculty of exact and natural sciences, students shouted “This cannot go on!” as they announced they would hold the building for a day, a traditional form of protest in Argentina.
“Our best professors are leaving en masse. With salaries that cannot cover their basic needs, they are leaving for private universities,” said Emiliano Gato, a physics student. Chemistry professor Maria Teresa de Jesus, who said she earns about $700 a month, joined Thursday’s march. “I have come to this protest as a last resort. I am professor. I love teaching, doing research. I shouldn’t be here,” she said.
Milei, in office since 2023, says his austerity plan is working. Monthly inflation has fallen to around 2%. “Argentina is growing at a remarkable pace. We have now recorded 27 consecutive months of sustained growth,” he said on a recent visit to Washington.