Argentina: Protests in Buenos Aires against government, IMF

Argentine left and right wings gathered in the Plaza de Mayo in a protest against the IMF and in opposition to the national government.

Thousands of people demonstrated in the streets of Buenos Aires on Saturday amid Independence Day celebrations to protest the government's actions in the face of the country's socio-economic difficulties.

Leftist parties, unions, and social organizations gathered at the Plaza de Mayo to call for a general strike and a ceasing of payments in Argentina's agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) amid the country's increasing inflation and economic volatility.

Concerns are surfacing in the country about the negotiation of the debt of 45 billion dollars with the IMF, an unleashed inflation that accumulates 30% so far this year that according to analysts could reach 70%, in addition to shortages and rising dollar prices in the official and black markets.

While traditional left-wing parties packed the Plaza de Mayo, a smaller right-wing group headed from the city's obelisk towards the square and struggled to pass through a police line that was attempting to avoid any kind of violence between the two antagonistic groups.

Carrying just Argentine flags and no political parties emblems, they managed to get to the Government House to stage their own demonstration, banging pots and singing the national anthem.

One small group carried a guillotine with a banner naming the ruling party "Todos" and the phrase "dead, imprisoned or exiled" on top.

Protesters also set a giant doll depicting vice-president Cristina Fernandez dressed as an inmate while carrying a bag full of money in one hand and holding a puppet of president Alberto Fernandez in the other.