MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina protest turns violent

Armed oil workers attacked a police station in southern Argentina where one of their union chiefs was being held on Tuesday, killing one officer and wounding five others with gunshots, officials said.

The governor of the southern province of Santa Cruz, Sergio Acevedo, confirmed that one police officer was killed, five were wounded by gunfire and 10 others suffered other injuries.

Acevedo told Buenos Aires media that the police officers "did not have firearms" and were armed only with "rubber bullets and (tear) gas." The attackers "killed one (officer), but they could have killed thirty," the governor said.

The attack on the police station occurred in the town of Las Heras, where a dissident faction of an oil workers union has been staging protests and blocking roads during a labor dispute that has lasted more than two weeks.

Police in Santa Cruz said some 200 protesters armed with sticks, fire bombs and guns broke into the station in Las Heras early Tuesday to demand the release of union leader Mario Navarro.

Police said they tried to disperse the protesters with tear gas, but the oil workers opened fire on them, killing officer Jorge Sayago, who was hit three times.

Argentine Interior Minister Anibal Fernandez said "a large number" of federal agents were being sent to Las Heras.

Fernandez said the federal border patrol officers would "try to impose a degree of sense and find those responsible" for the attack on the police station.