MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Demonstrators attack Argentine Congress building during IMF deal debate

CFK was at her office when the stones broke through the windows

While Argentina's Lower House was debating the approval of the refinancing agreement with the International Monetary Fund, demonstrators staged several incidents in and around the Congress building in Buenos Aires.

The burning of tires and a garbage container gave way to an attack with stones, paint bombs, and Molotov cocktails against the historic building, even causing a fire in Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner's office.

Law enforcement officers arrived at the scene about half an hour after the riots began. One person was arrested for aggravated assault and at least five people were injured.

Buenos Aires City authorities claimed that the lack of a fence around Congress was, in fact, a decision of the federal administration, where local authorities have no jurisdiction.

They also insisted that, once the violent groups were identified, a dialogue was held with the leaders of the main leftwing organizations staging the protests, and they were told to move to the side because there were children and babies involved.

“When they began to throw stones and set the tires on fire, it was decided to wait, since an advance of the police would have provoked even greater incidents. As soon as the aggressors could be identified, we moved forward to gradually restore order”, the Buenos Aires authorities explained.

Opposition media threw her own tweeting back at CFK. La Nación recalled that in 2017, she had posted that “If Congress has to sit his way, fenced and militarized, it is because what is being debated inside goes against the interests of the majorities.” - Cristina Kirchner (@CFKArgentina) December 14, 2017.

Stones hit the windows of the second floor of the Senate, breaking several of the windows of CFK's office, who was there at the time of the attack, together with Senators Oscar Parrilli and Anabel Fernández Sagasti as well as her son, Deputy Máximo Kirchner.

CFK also posted a video on social media showing the damages caused to her office. “Paradoxically, it was my office that was attacked. The office of the person who stood up to the vulture funds, who kept the International Monetary Fund out of the country, fulfilling the legacy of my colleague Néstor Kirchner and who also built with his decision the Frente de

Todos that allowed Mauricio Macri to be defeated. Paradoxically or intentionally...,” she said.