Argentinian police used water cannons & riot gear in a new repression against pensioners protesting outside Congress during a budget debate.
Argentinian security forces repressed a weekly pensioners’ march outside Congress on Wednesday for approximately 40 minutes using riot gear and water cannons, as lawmakers inside debated the government’s contentious 2026 budget.
Medical volunteers from the Corps of Evacuation and First Aid (CEPA, in Spanish) treated at least five individuals for injuries. Two were affected by pepper spray, while others were hit by high-pressure water jets. In one severe incident, a young woman was knocked to the ground by a water cannon blast, sustaining a serious knee injury.
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The incident occurred during the retirees’ weekly march, as deputies inside the legislative palace held extraordinary sessions convened by far-right President Javier Milei to debate the Fiscal Innocence Principle law, and the National Commitment for Fiscal and Monetary Balance law.
For her part, Security Minister Alejandra Monteoliva promoted the narrative of a violent breach of public order, which she attributed to an “Antifascist Club.” A force of between 700 and 800 officers encircled the building with barriers, transport trucks, and water cannons—equipment that was subsequently turned on the elderly demonstrators.
ARGENTINA | así fue la represión de la policía contra jubilados que protestaron (hoy) frente al Congreso
video compartido por @gisoleok pic.twitter.com/ZOLcqytAEn— PIENSAPRENSA 357 mil Seguidores (@PiensaPrensa) December 18, 2025
Text reads: ARGENTINA | It was the police repression against pensioners who protested (today) in front of the Congress”.
The Labour Reform Project
The Provincial Commission for Memory also denounced the repression. Acting as the Local Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture, the body highlighted the direct responsibility of Minister Monteoliva, who publicly stated she would apply the same anti-picket protocol at the major mobilization called by the General Confederation of Labour (CGT, in Spanish) against Milei’s neoliberal labour reform.
The CGT argues that the labour reform bill under debate in the Senate embodies “austerity and the precarization of work.” Key provisions include drastically reduced severance pay and the option for employers to pay wages in goods instead of currency.
The reform also aims to remove mandatory union dues collection by companies and create a new category of “independent delivery workers” for platform-based jobs. According to the union, these measures systematically undermine job security and workers’ rights.
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