The Automotive Tramway Union (UTA) issued a harsh statement on Thursday to
demand that the detained bus drivers be released
accused of the attack on the Buenos Aires Security Minister Sergio Berni during the incidents in the protest for the crime of the driver Daniel Barrientos in La Matanza.
"Make the same effort and deployment to catch criminals"
, they questioned from the group and repudiated the police operation: "It refers to the arrests of leaders of criminal gangs."
Jorge Oscar Galiano (49) and Jorge Ezequiel Zerda (32)
were arrested around midnight this Wednesday in the western suburbs, one in Lomas del Mirador and the other in Gregorio de Laferrere.
In the last few hours, images of the large deployment of police officers at the door of the house of one of them circulated, who raised his hands and, without resisting, responded in surprise: "Put your weapons down, are you going to shoot me?
"
From the UTA they described "the deployment and spectacularity" of the episode as "an operation that refers to the arrests of leaders of criminal gangs."
They recalled Berni's public statements in which he mentioned that he was not going to make any complaints about the incidents on Monday at the picket line at General Paz and Route 3. And they pointed out that "it has not been proven" if they committed the attack.
"If they did carry out any punishable act, they did so within the social framework described, added to the impotence for the cold-blooded murder of a couple, also a driver, about to retire, who was shot in the chest," they remarked.
Finally, they stated: "The speed of arresting workers is surprising.
Make the same effort and display to catch criminals
, not for workers who are victims of impotence and helplessness on the part of the State in all its variants, which has the obligation to take care of the drivers and the whole of society".
"We demand the immediate release of the detained compañeros, who are obviously in the right; and we demand that the justice system and the security forces make their full effort to find and prosecute him/the murderers of Daniel Barrientos," they concluded.
The detainees
After the arrests, carried out by the City Police, Galiano and Zerda were transferred to the headquarters of the Prosecutor's Office, located at 1333 Paseo Colón Avenue, 7th floor of the Buenos Aires district.
They will be investigated this Friday
and, after giving a statement, they will regain their freedom, since the crime for which they are accused is free from prison.
The accusation is for
minor injuries, attack and resistance to authority
in the framework of the protests.
Raids were also carried out at the Nuevo Ideal and Almafuerte collective companies, where the detainees work, to kidnap their personal files.
In these procedures
, they seized files and digital material
from all the workers on the bus lines.
In this way, they will verify all this information with the videos of the beating of the minister, in search of more responsible.
Therefore,
they do not rule out that there are new detainees.
The people who beat the head of the Buenos Aires Security portfolio
were easily identified
, not only by the security cameras in the area, but also by the images captured by the media.
Although Berni had initially said publicly that he was not going to make any judicial presentation against his attackers, the government of Axel Kicillof denounced the attack before the Federal Court on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, this Thursday six bus lines from the Almafuerte company and two from the Nueva Ideal firm do not provide service as a result of a strike ordered by the drivers in rejection of the arrests.