MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Extremist group protest against Prince Anne outside Buenos Aires Opera House

Rioting outside Buenos Aires Colon Opera House (Pic La Nacion)

With faces covered, flags and sticks the Argentine fundamentalist group Quebracho staged a protest in front of Buenos Aires Colon Opera House where the opening ceremony of the International Olympic Committee took place on Friday evening and which includes among its members Princess Anne.

As part of the protest the group burnt an effigy characterized as Queen Elizabeth and trampled on UK flags. This is a repeat of the many actions organized by the group in Buenos Aires and cruise vessel’s ports of call in summer months in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego to protest against the Falkland Islands, Britain and the Red Ensign.

This is the first time a member of the royal family visits Argentina on an official mission in fourteen years. In this case the royal visitor comes as a member of COI.

In a release Quebracho threatened to break into the Opera House and called on Malvinas veterans to actively participate in the demonstration.

“The ‘little pirate princess Anne of England is coming; the sister of Charles, daughter of Elizabeth II who ordered the attack on our Malvinas Islands in 1982. They’ve come to ‘honour’ a ceremony at the Colon Theatre”, reads the first paragraph.

“And even if she’s coming, she has to hide. Because she knows we repudiate her. She might go around the city but we’ll be there; and she will be in the Colon (Opera House) and there we shall wait for her”.

Last April a similar Quebracho protest in front of the British embassy in Buenos Aires led to rioting with several law enforcement officers injured and much destruction of public property.

Before that they ransacked and set fire offices in downtown Buenos Aires which sold cruise packages supposedly involving UK or BOT flagged vessels or calling the Falklands. During the summer season they also tried to board a vessel in the port of Buenos Aires and attempted similar actions in Ushuaia.

Some cruise companies decided to eliminate Ushuaia of their tours.