Barely had President Javier Milei finished announcing his 366-article economic megadecree on Wednesday night when the sound of angry people banging on pots and pans filled the night.

Incensed that Argentina’s president was overturning years of hard-won labor laws, social rights and sovereignty protections in a single decree, they swarmed to the national Congress building and took to the streets in spontaneous protest. By Wednesday, he had been in power for 11 days.

Chants comparing Milei to the dictatorship mixed with insults aimed at Security Minister Patricia Bullrich and ex-president-cum-Milei backer, Mauricio Macri. At times, the crowd broke out into chants of “Ohh, que se vayan todos” (Out with all of them), a rejection of the entire political class that dates back to the socioeconomic meltdown of 2001.

Outside Congress, protesters lined the railings. One man waved a sign calling for a general strike. Tied to the railings was a yellow Gadsden flag — a symbol of the far right adopted by Milei followers — crossed out in red. 

Entre Ríos Avenue was blocked with protesters, some holding a huge Argentine flag or clanging metal rods together, others equipped with little more than plastic bottles. While some were in their early twenties, others were stooped with old age.

Estimates of how many people attended were not immediately available, but the protesters reached from the railings of Congress to the first row of statues in the square and filled Callao Avenue for one block north of the square.

In the city of La Plata, a 72-year-old man died of a heart attack during the protests. The emergency services were contacted for comment.

There was no notable police presence outside Congress, and the protest dispersed peacefully in the early hours of Thursday morning.

It marked a sharp contrast with the planned yearly march to Plaza de Mayo at 4 p.m. to commemorate the 39 demonstrators killed in a police crackdown during the 2001 crisis. In the streets around the square, the tension could be cut with a knife as ranks of riot police lined the pavements. 

The afternoon march was seen as the first test of the broad-ranging anti-protest protocol announced by Bullrich on December 14, authorizing police crackdowns on any kind of demonstration that blocks roads. She promised during the announcement that the government would enforce it strictly, adding that foreigners caught protesting would be reported to immigration and social movements found to be organizing protests would be made to foot the bill for any police crackdowns. 

Human Capital Minister Sandra Pettovello said in a video message on Monday that protesters on welfare would have their benefits cut and parents who take their children to protests would be reported to child protection services. The government also launched a hotline for welfare recipients to report members of social movements and other groups threatening to take their payments away unless they showed up to march.