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The complaint alleges excessive force during an October 16 university protest in Buenos Aires, where at least 550 people required medical attention.
Argentina’s Provincial Commission for Memory (CPM) has filed a criminal complaint against President Javier Milei’s government and security officials over a police crackdown on a university protest in Buenos Aires that left at least 550 people requiring medical attention. The filing accuses security forces of abuse of authority, dereliction of official duties and other crimes.
The complaint concerns the October 16 Federal University March and a demonstration against Decree of Necessity and Urgency (DNU) 70 in Plaza del Congreso. It names the Unified National Security Command and authorities in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, alleging that the security operation exceeded legal limits.
The operation involved the Federal Police, Naval Prefecture, National Gendarmerie, Airport Security Police and Buenos Aires City Police. According to the CPM, officers intervened while the mass demonstration was underway, forcing university leaders to interrupt their reading of the main statement from the stage.
The commission reported that officers fired rubber bullets directly at protesters’ faces and heads and used water-cannon trucks against demonstrators. At least 550 people required medical attention, and at least 120 tear-gas grenades were fired, according to the organization.
A CPM report documented injuries to 50 media workers and 15 members of the commission, which is chaired by Adolfo Pérez Esquivel and Dora Barrancos.
Among those injured were Página/12 photographer Guido Piotrkowski, who was struck twice in the chest by rubber bullets, and TeleSISA journalist Laura Quispe, who sustained nine rubber-bullet impacts.
Footage circulated by the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS) showed officers aiming at protesters’ eyes. Later that evening, television cameras recorded Gendarmerie officers collecting spent cartridges from the streets and placing them in bags. The CPM raised concerns about the preservation of potential evidence.
Six people arrested during the demonstration
Six people were arrested during the protest and its dispersal. Two students from Nicolás Avellaneda School were detained at 5:11 p.m. at the intersection of Montevideo and Sarmiento streets.
One student, aged 14, was held for two hours. The other, aged 17, was charged with resisting authority and faces criminal proceedings under the recently introduced juvenile justice regime.
Police later arrested four adults — three men and one woman — at the intersection of Chacabuco Street and Avenida de Mayo. Human rights organizations said the woman, a student at the National University of Tres de Febrero, was stopped because she was carrying a Colombian flag. All four were charged with resisting authority.
Commission seeks records and independent investigation
The CPM’s complaint alleges that the actions of officers and their political superiors were coordinated and carried out under orders from senior officials who knowingly authorized the use of coercion outside the legal framework and in violation of Argentina’s international commitments.
The commission has asked the national and Buenos Aires city security ministries to provide a complete list of personnel deployed during the operation, details of the vehicles, weapons and equipment used, and copies of orders transmitted over police radio frequencies.
It is also seeking information about officers who photographed or filmed protesters, including whether they had prior judicial authorization, as well as footage from the city’s surveillance cameras.
The CPM has called for independent forensic examinations and for the collection, custody and analysis of testimony, commercial recordings and other evidence to remain under the control of the competent court or prosecutor. The request specifically excludes the security forces implicated in the events from handling that evidence.
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Last week, anti-immigrant protests in South Africa turned violent, with looting, destruction of property, and reports of 24 vehicles being burnt as tensions escalated in Johannesburg and Durban. The unrest followed growing anger over a government directive on asylum applications, which the Department of Home Affairs has since withdrawn.
The directive, issued on September 28, instructed Refugee Reception Offices (RROs) to process all asylum applications immediately. Massive queues of foreign nationals subsequently formed at immigration offices, which were met with demonstrations and violence from anti-immigrant groups.
Protests were reported in Soweto township, Johannesburg, and Durban, in KwaZulu-Natal province. Demonstrations in Durban continued for a second day, prompting police to strengthen their presence to contain the unrest. However, tensions remained high in the city and in the country.
Government withdraws asylum directive
On October 9, the director-general of the Department of Home Affairs announced the withdrawal of the directive concerning the intake of asylum applications.
The directive had been introduced following a July 7, 2026 Constitutional Court judgment that mandated that individuals could not be barred from accessing South Africa’s asylum system, even if they entered the country irregularly. According to the department, the September directive intended to guide Refugee Reception Offices in implementing the court’s order.
The department said the directive had been issued as an operational measure without the knowledge or involvement of the Minister of Home Affairs or other political office-bearers. It rejected claims that the measure had been politically motivated.
However, the department acknowledged that implementing the judgment had produced consequences that were not anticipated in the court order. These included overcrowding at Refugee Reception Offices within days of the directive’s introduction, risks to the safety of Home Affairs officials and emerging threats to public order.
The director-general said the department would begin a fresh process to determine a more appropriate and sustainable way of complying with the court order, while reaffirming its commitment to the rule of law and the authority of the judiciary.
Home Affairs warns of disinformation
Two days before withdrawing the directive, the Department of Home Affairs issued a statement on October 7 warning of what it described as a coordinated disinformation campaign surrounding the Constitutional Court judgment.
The department said false claims had circulated suggesting that the Minister of Home Affairs or political parties had independently decided to suspend certain asylum procedures. It insisted that the operational directive had been issued to implement a binding court judgment.
The department also rejected claims that the ruling granted citizenship to asylum seekers or automatically legalized all foreign nationals living in the country.
It warned that misinformation intended to inflame tensions and incite violence threatens public stability, urging South Africans to verify information before sharing it.
The subsequent withdrawal of the directive, however, does not reverse the Constitutional Court’s judgment. Home Affairs has said it will develop a new operational approach that complies with the ruling while addressing the challenges faced by refugee reception offices.
Anti-immigrant tensions continue to escalate
Last week’s violence is the latest in a wave of anti-immigrant and xenophobic mobilization that has built steadily since the start of the year. Protests broke out across Johannesburg, Durban and Pretoria in April, and anti-immigrant groups, led by the March and March movement, set June 30 as a deadline for undocumented migrants to leave the country.
On that day, police arrested hundreds during nationwide marches, and one person was shot dead in Johannesburg’s Alexandra township as residents looted spaza shops owned by foreign nationals. In the following weeks, protesters in Johannesburg went door to door, seizing foreigners from their homes, with many fleeing for safety.
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