00:00and now we are going to have a telephone conversation a telephone contact with our
00:06correspondent in argentina belen de los santos she's there she's inside this demonstration and
00:13she's bringing up all of the latest updates of these demonstration taking place in argentina
00:23hi belen what can you share with us at this hour hello how are you exactly as you were saying
00:30we
00:31are here we i just stepped outside for like a block from where the major concentration is
00:36happening right now block from where the major concentration is happening right now because
00:41the telephone signal is really bad at that moment there was some problem with the communications
00:48but at this moment the situation is the following there was an important concentration gathered by
00:55different organizations organizations from different sectors after we're saying concentrating in the
01:02congress square that is the square in bona fide right in front of the congress where the senate is
01:10debating at this moment the labor reform this is the first debate for the labor reform
01:17let's recall that this is a flagship project for the government of javier mille since he came into
01:24power he has been trying to install this possibility of passing a reform that will change the labor
01:32structure in argentina something of course very much resisted not only by the unions by the workers but by
01:39the working class in general because of the effects that it's going to have in a short and long
01:47term in terms of the work structure for argentina let's recall that this is the country that has an
01:55important strategy of an important social workers benefits that have been run over the decades and have been
02:05maintained by the demonstrations and by the pressure of the people in the streets time and time again
02:11neoliberal governments have tried to cut out this type of work structure that is common to the argentinian
02:21society that is the pension system the possibility of taking vacations the working hours the way in which
02:29the wages are earned and paid and this reform is targeting different aspects of that the way that
02:37the enterprises can hire workers and also the benefits and the rights of those workers that are at this
02:46moment defended by the current labor structure and that this reform is trying to affect so with that
02:55scenario in mind the unions the social organizations the political organizations have gathered themselves and
03:03summoned to the different sectors of the society in order to come to the congress and show outside of
03:11where this is being debated the pressure and the sentiment on the street of the different worker sectors that
03:18are against this type of reform being cast in this way and trying to show the negative effects it's going
03:28to have
03:29particularly on the working class changes are numerous but the guiding sentiment of this reform
03:36is cutting away from the rights of the workers and the rights that defend them in the face of the
03:45larger
03:45powers that are the enterprises in the labor market trying to cut away at the power of the
03:53collective union agreements for example and trying to improve and that benefits the enterprises in what
04:01the government is trying to show or propose as a work equal peer-to-peer negotiation but we know that
04:09there is
04:10no peer-to-peer negotiation when you have the enterprise and the single worker it's the union of the collective
04:18agreements that have given the working class in argentina the social rights that it holds today and
04:27those are the rights that are being defended at this moment in the congress square we have seen some images
04:33of
04:34some first signs of police repression at this moment there is police effective at five meters from where i am
04:44talking to you right now they have been surrounding the entire congress and also the streets leading up to the
04:52congress and this is underway right now at this moment the images were just of a specific event in the
05:01very front
05:02line targeting one group of incidents and the major situation in the square was of a call demonstration
05:12where many people were gathering even when this started people were saying in the square this has
05:20happened before and the people know that they need to stay where they are in order to continue to show
05:26their sentiment of rejection of what is being debated in the congress so we saw initial signs of repression but
05:36not a major repression at least up to this moment this can change at any minute of course we have
05:42seen the
05:42government of malay unleash severe repression against the people that have been peacefully protesting as it is the case
05:51right now as i was saying i was just there i have been for the past hours the situation was
05:57a peaceful
05:58protest protest the gathering of several different factors of the working factors also we've seen the
06:07retirees those retirees that every wednesday such as today have been gathering at the same location as well
06:16also bell we are seeing on our screens at this moment there is an ongoing an ongoing police brutality
06:23on their way at this moment we can see as well that people in this spot of where this this
06:31reaction is
06:32taking place they are gathering together and i wanted to ask you why is it important for argentinians to
06:38remain united in these circumstances why is it important for argentinians to challenge police repression
06:47at the in these in these circumstances well i was just saying this was a very tense situation you were
06:55telling me that you see images at this moment as i was saying i left the exact block in order
07:03to talk to
07:03you i'm just one block away and many people are just moving spaces so it's very possible that there are
07:12initial signs of repression and police brutality underway at this moment it wouldn't be the first time
07:18formally as i was saying this massive concentration of people taking place was peaceful it was a way of
07:27showing with musical instruments with their flags with their slogans with their chance that they were
07:35showing a concrete rejection of what was happening in the congress and of course that sentiment and that
07:43way for the people to protest peacefully what is happening in the congress is being met once again by police
07:52brutality by repression by intimidation it has been one of the ways in which the government of javier
08:00milet is trying to go against that popular power that for decades has been one of the strongholds of argentina's
08:12and specifically argentina's working class so what we see at this moment is what we have seen in many
08:18other cities the congress a peaceful protest that have seen many people come to this place the congress complete
08:31that is with the strategy of uh repressing this movement and what is happening and what you're
08:39seeing on the screen is happening at this moment minute to minute you may be in which this repression
08:46is being unleashed it is not
08:52seems like we are having some technical difficulties while we were speaking to our correspondent in argentina at
09:00this hour belinda los santos she was giving us an insight from everything that is happening at this
09:05hour in monocytes the people is on the streets the people is demonstrating against the labor reform that
09:13has been proposed by argentine president javier millet at this hour we can see there is a powerful deployment of
09:22police forces throughout the capital but most specifically surrounding the congress building
09:28in the hearts of buenos aires
09:30in the hearts of buenos aires
Comments