Power cut protesters clash with travelling football fans on highway

Demonstrator shot, Berni recognizes increasingly violent society

A man was shot yesterday during a protest held by Ingeniero Maschwitz residents, after their roadblock on the Panamericana highway sparked clashes with Colón de Santa Fe football fans, who were returning from an away match in the Greater Buenos Aires city of Lanús.

The strong-armed protest measure began on Monday night, when residents took to the streets to demand Edenor restore electricity services, after a power cut struck on Sunday.

The shooting occurred when the travelling Colón fans attempted to break through the picket, though the specifics are being investigated by the Escobar district police department. Police sources later revealed that approximately 60 of the supporters were detained and a firearm was confiscated by police.

The wounded person, an Ingeniero Maschwitz local, was also revealed yesterday to have been discharged from hospital, having suffered only “minor injuries.”

The road block, which lasted 12 hours, caused significant congestion on the highway, though it dispersed by midday yesterday.

Edenor and the Escobar municipality confirmed that power services had been normalized to coincide with the end of the protest, but Mayor Sandro Guzmán affirmed he will file a complaint against the firm for considering it to “fall short of what is required” from it following the “prolonged and recurrent power outages that are being suffered in diverse neighbourhoods of the district.”

An Edenor spokesperson claimed that the outage affected “300 to 400 clients” and was caused by the “collapse of a wire on a medium-voltage grid,” adding that customers will be able to request compensation.

Security Secretary Sergio Berni confirmed the arrest of the supporters and revealed: “At 4pm, the Border Guard initiated an operation to disperse the highway,” and emphasized: “We have a court order from the judge for the Panamericana not to be blocked.”

When asked if security forces could act at will to prevent such prolonged pickets, Berni answered affirmatively, but claimed this case had been “complicated, there were children.”

Witnesses maintained that Colón hooligans had fired shots into the air to intimidate the protesters at kilometre 42 of the highway between 6 and 6:15pm, and that the roadblock was lifted to let them through.

Berni: ‘society has become

more violent’

Berni admitted yesterday that “society has become more violent,” attributing the trend in part to aggressive content on television and videogames. Berni also described the murder of Leonardo Andrada, the engine-driver who was a key witness in the Once trial, as “suspicious,” and called for an “intensification of the investigation until the matter is clarified.”

Herald with DyN