On Saturday (12/16), police expelled a group of indigenous people protesting in a square in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was the first measure of a new anti-protest policy championed by recently inaugurated President Javier Miley.
Maili’s Minister of Public Security, Patricia Bullrich, created a new protocol prohibiting any protest that closes streets and roads, even momentarily.
Usually, the police divert traffic to other roads while organizing the demonstration. Now, the order is to undo the ban immediately. Participants in this type of protest may be prosecuted and even fined.
This Saturday, members of the Tercer Malone Indigenous Movement of La Paz were ending a 4-month camp in Lavallee Square, in front of the Supreme Court, when they were surprised by police officers.
According to the newspaper Clarín, indigenous people were demonstrating against constitutional reform in the northern province of Jujuy.
Anti-protest protocol
The police action was seen as the beginning of Miley’s new anti-protest protocol. Security forces claim that there was only a “clearance operation.”
A protest against the new order was scheduled for December 20.
This ban on protests is an interpretation of existing laws. Therefore, the government did not consider it necessary to propose new legislation on this subject.
