Escalating in recent days, new demonstrations of support for Argentinian Vice-President Cristina Kirchner, in reaction to a prison sentence required against her, were held on Saturday in several cities, including one near her home in Buenos Aires a resulted in clashes with the police.
Several marches, without incident, brought together thousands of people in Tucuman (north-west), Cordoba (center), Bahia Blanca (south) in particular, others were planned in Neuquen (south) Catamarca (north-west) San Luis (center) among others, according to local television and the state agency Telam.
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In Buenos Aires, brief clashes took place at the end of the afternoon between the police and supporters of Cristina Kirchner (Peronist, left), when the demonstrators tried to force a cordon set up near the home of the vice -president, in the Recoleta district, noted AFP.
Like every evening this week, hundreds of people had converged there to tirelessly sing and chant, sometimes until late at night, slogans of support and affection: “
Cristina president
” “
The people love Cristina
”, etc.
The police used tear gas and water cannons, but the demonstrators managed to approach very close to the building of the vice-president.
At the beginning of the evening, and in the calm returned, they seemed determined to watch over it once again.
According to the mayor (right) of Buenos Aire Horacio Larreta, twelve police officers were injured during the incidents, including victims of stone throwing.
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Acclaimed, Cristina Kirchner made a brief appearance in the street to greet her supporters, taking the microphone to accuse the (right) municipality of Buenos Aires and its police of “
wanting to prevent the people from expressing themselves
”.
But she still invited to “
go and rest a little, because the day has been long
”, before taking leave with a: “
I love you!
(...) You are all my children!
»
A “
permanent camp
” of support
In a statement shortly before, Larreta had asked him "
to take responsibility for the protesters to withdraw peacefully to their homes
".
He denounced demonstrations of support that have become over the week a "
permanent camp
", an "
organized occupation of public space
" preventing any normal life in the neighborhood.
He also recalled that the police had, on Monday evening, "
avoided clashing between opposing groups
" when pro and anti-Kirchner had spontaneously converged in the same place.
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Dozens of marches or rallies in support of the vice-president in several cities in Argentina have been initiated by movements, unions, parties affiliated with the center-left coalition in power, Frente de Todos, or the Justicialist Party (Peronist) , of which Ms. Kirchner, head of state from 2007 to 2015, remains the emblematic figure at 69.
Monday, 12 years in prison and life ineligibility were required against her, in a trial for fraud and corruption, relating to the awarding of public contracts in her stronghold of Santa Cruz (south), during her two presidential terms.
Popular, but also divisive, and still influential in Argentine politics, the vice-president strongly counterattacked the next day, denouncing a political trial.
Behind her, the Peronist left has closed ranks, accusing a justice, according to her, instrumentalized by the right, of wanting to “
banish
” Ms. Kirchner from politics.
At her trial -- and of twelve co-defendants -- the defense arguments will begin in early September, and judgment will not be rendered until the end of 2022. Even in the event of a conviction, the President of the Senate enjoys parliamentary immunity and could not not go to prison, or even run for the general elections of October 2023. For which she has not yet revealed her intentions.
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