MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bs. Aires: Pickets wreak traffic havoc

Organized groups of the unemployed disrupted the life of porteños yesterday as they protested at full strength in Buenos Aires and its suburbs to call for an increase in subsidies.

The picketers staged protests across the city, blocking key access roads and lifting tollgate barriers on two busy highways in the suburbs.

They also continued their three-day campout in Plaza de Mayo in front of Government House and set up another camp at the Pueyrredón bridge, which links the city with the southern suburbs. They are expected to remove both camps some time today.

The hardline picket factions want the government of President Néstor Kirchner to increase the monthly allowance granted to some 1.6 million jobless heads of household to 350 pesos, from 150.

But while government officials have said there will be no increase in the subsidies, the administration is also reluctant to crack down on the road blockers ? who are increasingly getting on the nerves of the public.

Observers agree that the ongoing picket protests, which are hitting the Buenos Aires metropolitan area on an almost daily basis, could tarnish the government's reputation in the run-up to the October 23 mid-term election. Buenos Aires City is the country's second largest electoral district and Kirchner's candidates are, according to opinion polls, facing an uphill battle.

"These are not picketers, they are political activists," said Interior Minister Aníbal Fernández on Wednesday.

Yesterday, Cabinet Chief Alberto Fernández declared, "These groups are nothing but agents provocateurs who wish to attract the public's attention. The government will not give in to their provocation."

The government has called on Argentines to be "patient" and tolerate the protests. Picket leaders, meanwhile, announced that once they conclude today's protests, they will wait "seven days" for a government response. They have threatened to block all international roads in the country on August 29 if their demands are not satisfied. (Bs. Aires Herald)