An unprecedented
encampment
is lived in
Bajo Flores
: several residents of the area have been protesting since Tuesday night because
the National Gendarmerie
removed the security checkpoints present at the accesses to the
town 11-1-14
.
At first
there were 24 posts
and now there is only one left.
"Today
they were going to take the one in front of the church and the people did not allow it
. She was out there all afternoon and they prevented her from being taken away because of the insecurity in the neighborhood,"
one of the neighbors told
Clarín
. present at the demonstration.
According to what other witnesses from the neighborhood explained, on Monday morning "
out of nowhere
they began to remove the sentry boxes."
Street closures
and
protests were not long in coming.
People even
take turns at the campsite
to make a permanent presence.
Almost ten years ago, the Gendarmerie arrived in Bajo Flores to combat the increasing rate of homicides and robberies, fueled by the proximity of the
town 1-11-14
, which has a strong
problem with drug trafficking
.
It is the last settlement in the
City of Buenos Aires
that is under the control of federal forces.
The gendarmes
were even allowed to walk the corridors of the villa
, which caused crime to drop.
However, that
changed in 2020
, when a video was released showing federal uniformed officers making excessive use of their functions to ensure that the quarantine was respected.
Specifically, they forced a group of young people to do "frog jumps" for having found them walking around without a mask.
After the controversy that was generated by these images, the agents were sanctioned and the federal force began to have authorization to monitor only the accesses to the settlement.
Now
the Gendarmerie is in retreat and will not leave any of the posts
destined to combat insecurity in Bajo Flores.
Although the fact that they began to remove the sentry boxes was surprising, the departure of the Gendarmerie to give way to the
City Police
is nothing new.
In 2021, national and Buenos Aires officials had agreed to a gradual abandonment of the force.
The residents who camp do not seem to agree or be informed of the details and with their tents they blocked streets, in a
protest without registration for the area and for this reason
.
The complete withdrawal was scheduled for the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024, but it was brought forward, as was the case with Puerto Madero and the
towns 21-24 and Zavaleta
, from which the National Forces withdrew in March 2021.
DS
look too
Sergio Berni admitted "some police excess" in the arrest of the bus drivers who attacked him, but he relativized it: "It is a sterile discussion"
After the tensions over security, Aníbal Fernández and Sergio Berni met to calm the inmate
