The omnibus bill session in Congress ended Thursday night and reconvened Friday at 10 a.m. After two full days of debate and the list of speakers winding down to the end, the Lower House will vote on the entirety of the bill sometime in the afternoon. Although it is expected to be approved as a whole, the debate over each article that follows promises to be a thorny affair that could go on until next week. 

Thursday ended with frantic negotiations between La Libertad Avanza (LLA) deputies and certain opposition sectors surrounding the privatizations of state-owned companies, a particular sticking point. In the closing moments of the session, the government agreed to remove nine more companies from the list subject to privatization. This leaves 27 enterprises, 14 less than the 41 included in the original text. 

The Milei administration had initially taken oil company YPF off the list and proposed only partial privatization of three more: satellite developer ARSAT, nuclear energy firm Nucleoeléctrica Argentina, and Banco Nación. Among the nine removed on Thursday are uranium provider Dioxitek, Military Fabrications, and legal tender and banknote manufacturer Casa de la Moneda.

LLA also agreed to changes in two more key areas where it is short on votes: the declaration of a one-year state of emergency on certain topics and the delegation of legislative powers to the president on those issues for the same period. Of the 11 areas originally requested to be included, the government has now cut them down to 6: economic, financial, security, tariff, energy, and administrative issues. 

The tension level in the chamber grew in the evening as information about the police crackdown against protesters on the streets began coming in through media outlets and social media. Police could be seen using water cannons, rubber bullets, and tear gas to clear protesters, hitting demonstrators, journalists, and deputies. Members of the Military Police, Naval Prefecture, Federal Police, and City Police participated in the operation.

Romina del Pla, a deputy from the left-wing party Frente de Izquierda, called for the session to be suspended because of the violence outside. The head of the Unión por la Patria bloc, Germán Martínez, endorsed the proposal and also asked for a recess, but the motion was rejected.

According to the human rights organization CELS, more than 100 people were injured. Journalist union SIPREBA reported that at least 25 of those were media members covering the crackdown. 

Protestors also clashed with the police on Wednesday. Security forces arrested at least six people, including one UCR activist released on Thursday who said she was detained for merely singing the national anthem. Social leader Eduardo Belliboni, from the left-wing movement Polo Obrero, was shown lying on the ground, visibly hurt. He later said he had been pepper sprayed by police.