Holiday crowd moves pro-democracy after attack on Cristina

Protesters gathered in Plaza de Mayo, where the Argentine Executive Power is located, took over the streets of downtown Buenos Aires today. In a pro-democracy demonstration, the group called for an end to violence in politics and chanted slogans in favor of the country’s vice president, Cristina Kirchner, who was the victim of an attack last night (1st).

The action was extremely peaceful. By 7 pm, most of the protesters had left the scene. Apart from the huge amount of garbage in the square, nothing created an atmosphere of chaos. In fact, the action was largely a party for democracy and the fight against hatred.

The police also did not have a very prominent presence surrounding the main monuments in the square. At 17.00, when the public was at its busiest, the protest began to disperse after an emotional speech to unite the nation. At the beginning of the night, few were left with the cries of “Viva a Presidenta”.

There are still no official figures on how many people attended the pro-democracy rallies, but the demonstration is said to have been larger or larger than the abortion marches that took more than 150,000 people to the streets of the capital at the end of the demonstration. the year 2020.

Despite the organization’s attempt to create a mass action involving various representatives of the political spectrum, there was a desire among protesters to blame far-right movements for the attack as hate speech against Cristina increased.

How was the action? President Alberto Fernández’s declaring this day as a national holiday and encouraging the public to participate in the demonstrations, which also closed important streets such as 9 de Julio in Buenos Aires, contributed to the wide participation.

However, what was observed in the city was that the holiday, which was announced almost yesterday, did not receive much support from the service sector. Transport operated normally, but there was fear, especially among city dwellers, about the tone of the actions, which turned out to be quite peaceful.

Speech. The moment of greatest turmoil was when actress Alejandra Darín, sister of actor Ricardo Darín and director of the Argentine Actors Association, read a public letter in favor of showing respect against contradictory and hate speech in politics.

“The Argentine people were affected, affected, by what happened, including millions of us who didn’t sympathize with Cristina or Peronism,” the actress said.

We call for national unity, we call, but not at any cost. Hate, this is what we want from our homeland
Alejandra Darin, actress

It was foreseen by the organization of the action that there would be a dispersal after this, but it did not happen.

However, the audience attending the show seemed quite emotional. In addition to being vice president, Cristina is a strong candidate for the 2023 election and an important political leader in Argentina. Many protesters wept at the speech, and the applause ceased incessantly.

Most people carried Argentinean flags or bandanas in the colors of the country. Among the posters were frequent statements linking the attack to the speeches of the vice president’s opponents. In general, there was resentment at the action against the press and its professionals.

President Alberto Fernández received some of the union leaders who participated in the action at Casa Rosada. In a photo released by the Presidency, he appears surrounded by representatives of the trade union and business sectors, as well as representatives of religious and social associations.

With him were, for example, two representatives of the historical movements of the Mothers and Grandmothers of the Praça de Mayo, the main public organization fighting against the military dictatorship in the country.

What was the reaction of Argentine politicians? The actions were mainly coordinated by government parties linked to historical Peronism, but they had the support of left parties moderately opposed to the government, notably the Nuevo MAS.

Juntos por el Cambio, the government’s largest opposition party, whose main leadership is former President Maurico Macri, expressed its solidarity with Kirchner and issued a letter against the political violence, but did not attend the rally.

Horacio Larreta, the governor of Buenos Aires City, who is from the same party as Macri, followed the trend to issue a rejection note, but did not take to the streets. The leader of the local far-right, Javier Milei, did not comment on the episode.

Milei, Larreta, Cristina and Macri, in that order, are the favorite candidates for the presidential election in Argentina next year, according to the latest opinion polls released a month ago by the Consulting CB.

There is pressure from the local media for Milei to reject the action, as she has been a staunch opponent of the escalating pro-Cristina action following the vice president’s judicial conviction for corruption over the past two weeks. sentenced him to 12 years in prison.

As the vice president is known, a group of CFK supporters has been gathering at the door of the building where the attack took place every day since then.

Did Cristina go to the show? There was an expectation among the protesters that the vice president would go to the action at Praça de Mayo, but Cristina Kirchner chose to stay out of sight and only briefly appeared in public to get into a different car than she usually drives. journey with no published destination.

Before leaving, he visited the country’s president for about an hour in the afternoon, and also received calls for support from the likes of Pope Francisco and Brazilian presidential candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).

Security breaches and investigation. It was also said that the Argentine Federal Police criticized the security of the Vice President of the Argentinean Federal Police in the discussion between the participants of the demonstration and the local press. It was seen as a sign of unpreparedness that agents did not remove him from the scene immediately after the attack.

Fernando Andrés Sabag Montiel, a 35-year-old Brazilian who has lived in Argentina for 30 years, was blamed for the attack. Although he tried to shoot the vice president twice without success, he is in custody, but no information has been released about what led him to carry out the attack and what the current path of investigation is.

However, the Argentine press was dominated yesterday by detailed reports on the life of Fernando from his profiles on social networks, pointing to his affiliation with neo-Nazi and xenophobic movements and his spiritual beliefs.