Summary

TAPE: EF01/0893 IN_TIME: 00:13:18 DURATION: 3:29 SOURCES: APTN/CANAL 13 RESTRICTIONS: DATELINE: Buenos Aires, 29 Dec 2001 SHOTLIST: APTN 1. Exterior of Presidential Palace building 2. Man washing the street and barricades 3. Street cleaning machine 4. Graffiti sprayed on Palace wall reading: 'The people will triumph.' 5. Cleaner in Presidential Palace 6. Wide shot of Palace walls covered in graffiti 7. Woman sitting on park bench 8. Newspaper headlines reading: 'The casserole protest drove Grosso out.' 9. Newspaper headlines reading: 'Another casserole protest against the court and the corrupt.' 10. Newspaper headlines reading: 'Noise on deaf ears.' 11. Newspaper headlines reading: 'Fight with the casseroles.' 12. Newspaper stand/ arranging papers 13. Various exteriors of Congress 14. Shot of burned advertising outside Congress 15. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Jorge, shopowner "It is obvious that people are tired already of all the political manoeuvering carried out. So the only way of expressing yourself is with these casserole protests. What I don't agree with is the violent groups that don't have anything to do with people who are protesting for economic reasons." 16. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Maria, Vox pop "I definitely think this is completely unjust - that people's savings be kept - people's lifetime savings - there is no sense to it whatsoever." 17. Exteriors of damaged banks with broken windows CANAL 13 18. Protesters being dragged into police van 19. Various of riot police outside Congress building 20. Couple of protesters on motor bike fleeing police crashing into bus - and being detained by police 21. Various of couple being held down by police STORYLINE: Buenos Aires underwent a massive clean-up, hours after angry demonstrators stormed Argentina's Congress and clashed with police in protest against the government's handling of the country's economic crisis. What had been a peaceful demonstration degenerated into violence early on Saturday. Police fired barrages of tear gas and rubber bullets at demonstrators as a large but peaceful protest against the government's handling of a deep economic crisis turned violent. Venting their anger, gangs clashed with riot police through the pre-dawn hours as the officers responded with volleys of tear gas and rubber bullets. Fleeing from the Government House with police in pursuit, youths looted stores and trashed banks along Avenida de Mayo, a broad boulevard stretching several blocks to Congress. Several demonstrators later forced their way into Congress, setting small fires, smashing windows and throwing sofas and chairs out the main entrance. Smoke spilled out of the ornate century-old building before firefighters put out the blazes. The protesters were quickly driven from the building. The clashes then tapered off toward sunrise as police fanned out downtown. Twelve police officers were injured, six of them seriously, including one officer who was beaten by a mob before he could be led away from the pitched street battles outside the Government House. Police also said they arrested 33 people, but declined to provide details on the total number of injured. Saturday's violence followed 26 deaths and more than 200 injuries in rioting that drove President Fernando de la Rua from office on December 21. He was replaced by caretaker President Adolfo Rodriguez Saa, who now is feeling the wrath of Argentines furious over the handling of the economy and unemployment that tops 18 percent. Argentines are also angry over a weeks-old government move limiting cash withdrawals from banks in order to prevent a run on the financial system. On Saturday morning, workers tackled the task of erasing traces of discontent scrawled on government buildings and littered across the capital's Plaza de Mayo - the traditionally symbolic space to vent out political discontent. The violence began on the fringes of what was for hours a largely peaceful, but raucous pot-banging protest by middle-class Argentines fed up with government blundering and its attempts to tame an economic crisis. The headlines on Saturday's newspapers spoke of the so-called "casserole" protests. Shops and banks along the Avenida de Mayo were in ruins, pointing to popular anger over a weeks-old government move limiting cash withdrawals in order to prevent a run on the financial system. Cash-hungry Argentines flooded the banks on Friday after the government eased - but did not end - the restrictions that limit cash withdrawals to one-thousand US dollars a month. Skirmishes still erupted at daytime on Saturday as police patrolled the Congress building. The protests marked the second week of social tensions over a four-year-old economic crisis that led Rodriguez Saa to announce that Argentina would default on at least part of its dlrs 132 billion public debt.