Hundreds of thousands of Argentines took to the streets on Tuesday, to voice outrage at cuts to higher public education under budget-slashing.
Joined by professors, parents and alumni from the economic crisis-riddled South American country’s 57 state-run universities, students rose up in defense of free public university education.
Labor unions, opposition parties and private universities backed the protests in Buenos Aires and other major cities such as Cordoba — in one of the biggest demonstrations yet against the austerity measures introduced since Milei took office in December.
Police said around 100,000 people turned out Tuesday in the capital alone, while organisers put the number at closer to half-a-million paralysing the city center for hours on end.
A teachers’ union reported a million protesters countrywide.
New President Javier Milei won elections last November vowing to take a chainsaw to public spending and reduce the budget deficit to zero.
To that end, his government has slashed subsidies for transport, fuel and energy even as wage-earners have lost a fifth of their purchasing power.
Thousands of public servants have lost their jobs, and Milei has faced numerous anti-austerity protests.
