Tucumán has become the center of the Argentinean election campaign after thousands of protestors gathered outside government headquarters in the provincial capital of Miguel de Tucumán to call for new elections amid reports of widespread fraud during Sunday’s gubernatorial vote. After several hours, Governor José Alperovich, who has been ruling the region with an iron fist for 12 years, decided to break up the growing crowd in Plaza de la Independencia. People ran, police on foot and on horseback charged against the crowd, tear gas and rubber bullets were fired and several injuries were reported.
At stake was the governorship of Tucumán, where Alperovich and his associates from President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s Front for Victory (FPV) coalition manage a $3 billion dollar budget as they please. If no new elections are held, his vice-governor, Juan Manzur, will soon take over.
At midnight, the crowd continued to swell and some climbed up the stairs, causing tensions to rise between protestors and police
As the skirmishes broke out, the demonstrators dispersed but many, mostly the younger ones, came back to the square once the police, who had come under pressure as a result of the images of their actions broadcast live throughout Argentina, relented.
Full Article: Argentinean election protest: Riot police suppress protests calling for new elections in Tucumán | In English | EL PAÍS.