On Wednesday 26th June during demonstrations in Buenos Aires the police shot in the head and killed two young men in an execution style murder. Tear gas was also used against the anti-government protesters in the worst riots since the government was toppled last December.
On the following day thousands of people took to the streets outside the National Congress Building to protest over the deaths, and calling for President Eduardo Duhalde to resign. At the same time teachers and state workers also went on strike against the government's repression and Argentina's worsening economic crisis, brought on by the austerity measures imposed by the IMF. On Friday 29th the governor of the State of Buenos Aires ordered the arrests of two policemen and suspended over 100 others after a newspaper published photographs which showed the police shooting one of the demonstrators in cold blood.
A statement from IMC Argentina said "We just received notice that one of the murdered piqueteros is Dario Santillan, 21 years old, a friend from the La F Neighborhood. Dario, part of the MTD (Unemployed Worker's Movement) in the area, was a bricklayer who worked every day in a factory making bricks for a new community hall. He lived on land taken a few months ago, on a vacant farm. All of us participating in Indymedia had the fortune of sharing with him several pickets, assemblies and unforgettable conversations. In these moments we don't have words to express our pain and our anger. His murderers will pay for having stolen from us this beautiful friend."
Read reports discribing the huge mobilisation of homeless people, workers, assemblies, students, and leftist parties that took the city center for several hours. The roads were again blocked and travel was impeded in Neuqu»n, Salta, Jujuy, Mendoza, Ri€ Negro, Chaco, Tucum∑n, Santa Fe, Catamarca, La Pampa, and various parts of the country. Media coverage of the events was also criticised for serving the powerful's agenda. "The crisis has caused two new death", was the title in the local newspaper as if the crisis had shot the bullets without resorting to the services of the police. Right after that, amounting to the intimidation campaign, the same daily said that today "they will try to march to the Plaza de Mayo", as if this were an exploit, rather than a right.
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