Argentine students announce university occupation as Milei austerity protests turn violent

Students at the University of Buenos Aires announced the occupation of a building at its Exact and Natural Sciences faculty, part of protests over President Javier Milei’s austerity policies, as thousands marched in Buenos Aires on Thursday and a demonstration turned violent.

The campus assembly announced the occupation of the university, a traditional protest method in Argentina intended to raise public awareness and pressure the government. Students said they would take over the building for a day. Many students and professors are worried about the effect of Milei’s spending cuts on public universities and say free higher education is at risk.

Emiliano Gato, a physics student involved in the protest, told Al Jazeera that top professors were leaving in large numbers because their salaries no longer covered basic needs, pushing them toward private universities. He said he hoped to do research and teach at the University of Buenos Aires but was unsure what would happen under the austerity plan.

Maria Teresa de Jesus, a professor in the university’s chemistry department, told Al Jazeera she earns about $700 a month and struggles to make ends meet. She said she came to the protest as a last resort and that public education is crucial because it makes education accessible to all, while the government is ignoring it.

Court fine and funding law

A federal judge has started fining Milei’s government 100,000 pesos (about $70) a day for failing to implement parts of a university financing law. The law requires the government to restore university salaries and student scholarships lost to inflation, regularly update budgets, and fund research, hospitals and infrastructure.

Last year, Congress overturned presidential vetoes to approve two laws, one increasing funding for public universities and another declaring a disability emergency. Milei’s government has refused to implement them, saying Congress did not identify how they would be financed.

Wider austerity and political fight

Since taking office in 2023, Milei has laid off thousands of state employees, closed ministries, reduced subsidies and cut government-funded programs. The measures were aimed at fighting high inflation. Almost three years later, inflation has fallen to around 2 percent a month, and Milei says his plan is working. During a recent visit to Washington, he said Argentina had recorded 27 consecutive months of sustained growth and was expanding at four times its historical rate, with growth felt across almost every sector.

Critics say the plan has deeply affected public education, welfare programs for people with disabilities, pensioners and others who rely on state support. The opposition has tried to block many of Milei’s reforms.

A protest on Thursday that was meant to be peaceful turned violent. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets as protesters threw rocks. The plaza in front of Congress looked like a battleground, according to Al Jazeera. At least 25 people were detained, and several others were injured, including members of the security forces.

Many Argentines continue to back Milei’s economic plan, hoping that exploiting the country’s natural resources will create more jobs, higher wages and better living standards. Others say they have lost faith and accuse his government of protecting a privileged few while the rest of the country bears the cost.

Source: Al Jazeera.