Argentina: Unrest in Misiones Province as hundreds of officers and teachers protest over plummeting real pay

Hundreds of Argentine teachers and police officers demanded pay raises outside a Misiones Province police building for the second straight day on Saturday, raising alarms in the national and provincial administrations.

Some 2,000 demonstrators put up tents to cover themselves from the drizzle outside the police radio command in Posadas, the provincial capital. Less than a hundred meters away, teachers held a separate demonstration that included burning tires.

Police and other public sector employees are demanding a 100% raise - a figure roughly matching the 107% jump in prices, just as of April, since far-right President Javier Milei was elected in November.

Governor Hugo Passalacqua - a centrist hamstrung by deep cuts in revenue sharing by Milei - has offered 15%.

His province of 1.3 million, in NE Argentina, is one of the country's poorest - and is heavily dependent on federal revenue sharing.

“You can see close to six hundred active [officers], some with their faces covered and some in uniforms — I counted 21 police cars and 30 other cars,” Pablo García, a journalist from Info Tierra Colorada, told the Herald. He added that retired police officers and their families also took part in the demonstration.

Argentina' Security Ministry - headed by the hard-line Patricia Bullrich - created a crisis committee to coordinate efforts with the provincial government. The ministry announced that the national government would send 200 military police to help quell the incidents.

At: https://buenosairesherald.com/economics/unrest-in-misiones-as-hundreds-protest-in-front-of-police-building

Scenes from a police protest in Posadas, Argentina, this weekend as officers and other public employees protest frozen wages amid 107% inflation in five months.

Police have rejected the governor's 15% offer - noting that it still leaves rookie officers some 44% below the federal poverty line.

Public sector pay has been largely frozen in Misiones and 10 other provinces in an "economic emergency" thanks to deep cuts in revenue sharing by far-right President Javier Milei.

The scenes in Misiones this weekend recalled demonstrations in 1993 that escalated, forcing right-wing governors out in two other provinces amid similar (albeit milder) federal budget cuts that year.