Hundreds went out to the streets on Wednesday night in Buenos Aires to protest the violent police repression unleashed upon a retirees’ demonstration earlier that day. 

The retirees’ weekly demonstration against Javier Milei’s austerity measures ended with two hundred people arrested and dozens wounded. Freelance photographer Pablo Grillo was shot in the head with a tear gas can and is currently in critical condition at the Ramos Mejía Hospital. 

As footage of the repression went viral on TV and social media, a spontaneous cacerolazo —  making noise by banging pots and pans — erupted around 8 p.m. in several neighborhoods, including Caballito, Almagro, Congreso, Colegiales, Villa Crespo, Palermo, Paternal, Lugano and San Telmo. The protest extended to the Buenos Aires province, in districts like Ramos Mejía, Vicente López and Avellaneda. 

Later that night, a large group of protesters marched to Casa Rosada to demand the resignation of security minister Patricia Bullrich, who justified the police crackdown and accused protesters of having the “intention to kill” in a TV interview.

Viral videos of police repression included footage of priest ‘Paco’ Olveira being beaten by police while trying to prevent a friend from being arrested on a sidewalk near the corner of Corrientes and Callao avenues.  

“There are plenty of images showing what they did last night,” said Olveira on Radio con Vos on Thursday. 

“Repression is the only way to contain the people who protest because it is inhuman that a retiree gets 240,000 pesos, that we don’t have food for soup kitchens, that people with cancer die because they are poor and don’t have access to medication anymore,” he added.

With information from Ámbito