Opposition to Javier Milei’s administration scored two victories in the Lower House on Wednesday, in a session that finished abruptly after clashes between Peronist and Libertarian lawmakers.

The opposition intended to debate initiatives of special concern to the government — the reduction of agricultural export duties, a commission investigating the $LIBRA crypto scandal, and amendments to the law regulating executive orders, known in Argentina as Decrees of Necessity and Urgency (DNU). 

The lawmakers could only vote to place the proposals to increase the budget for universities and to declare the Garrahan pediatric hospital emergency. Both bills will now be transferred to the Budget and Finance Committee.

The heated discussion began when José Luis Espert, a lawmaker from La Libertad Avanza (LLA), entered the chamber, and the opposition accused him of politically persecuting Kirchnerist activists. The tense moment included shouting and arguments, after which some legislators stood up to remove the quorum.

That day, activists accused of throwing feces at Espert’s house a week ago were arrested after he filed a criminal complaint against Alesia Abaigar, an official from the Peronist Buenos Aires government. Abaigar was arrested and transferred to the Ezeiza prison-.

As a result of the complaint, other people were arrested, and federal judge Sandra Arroyo Salgado ordered a raid in the offices of the Municipality of Quilmes and private homes.

Security Minister Patricia Bullrich said one of the detained activists was a councilwoman.

“The poop-throwing councilwoman, arrested,” Bullrich posted on X. “By day, councilwoman of Quilmes. By night, she planned and executed attacks on opponents and their families. She and all her accomplices already know: you do it, you pay it.”

Amid a tense atmosphere and with strong clashes between deputies of Unión por la Patria and La Libertad Avanza, the head of the chamber, Martín Menem, adjourned the session.

Before the fifth hour of debate, the face-to-face discussion of representatives of La Libertad Avanza and Unión por la Patria  — who got up from their seats, so they were not giving the regulatory quorum — caused the session to end, with ten proposals left on the agenda.