Violent protests in Argentina; president Duhalde calls for calm

 



  BUENOS AIRES - President Eduardo Duhalde yesterday pleaded for 
patience as he works on the country's economic crisis. The call 
came after another night of violent clashes.

  "We can't solve all of the country's problems in three weeks," 
he told local radio, hours after tens of thousands of Argentines 
took to the streets around the country in a pot-banging 
demonstration. At least 13 people were reported injured in the 
overnight clashes outside the government palace, known as the 
Casa Rosada, and dozens of people reportedly were detained.

  Duhalde, who took office on January 2 as Argentina's fifth 
president in a month, vowed his government would unveil a new 
economic program to rescue the country from four years of 
recession.

  "I only ask of all Argentines one thing: keep up the hope," 
Duhalde said. "I'm only here for two years, and my promise is 
that at the end of my term, I'll leave the country back on 
track.

  Daily protests have engulfed Argentina: Popular rage has boiled 
over against Duhalde's decision to devalue the peso by more than 
30 percent and further tighten a banking freeze that has locked 
most Argentines' savings into bank accounts.

  The beleaguered president made no mention of the widely despised 
banking freeze that has presented a nettlesome challenge to his 
three-week-old administration: how to give Argentines their 
savings back without prompting an all-out collapse of the 
financial system. The banking curbs were put in place December 1 
by then-president Fernando De la Rua to halt a run on the banks. 
But after the devaluation of the peso, many banks say they 
simply don't have the money to return to depositors.

  Late Friday night, Argentines' impatience peaked, and Duhalde 
faced the second and most widespread protest since he assumed 
the presidency after similar protests forced his predecessors 
from office. Under a driving rain, more than 10,000 Argentines 
banged pots and pans in the Plaza de Mayo to protest the banking 
freeze, shouting insults at the country's political leaders, the 
Supreme Court, and banks - all of whom the Argentines blame for 
plunging the country into its worst economic crisis in decades.

  Thousands more crowded street corners and downtown streets in 
cities around the country, including Mar del Plata, Cordoba, 
Mendoza, Rosario and Salta. The protest marked the first 
organized protest, led by labor and neighborhood groups who also 
called for the protest via e-mail and the Internet. But what 
began as a peaceful protest in downtown Buenos Aires, later 
turned violent as riot police riding on motorcycles used tear 
gas and rubber bullets to disperse hundreds of peaceful 
demonstrators. Rock-throwing youths responded as the rally wound 
down.

  Demonstrators lingered in the streets for hours early yesterday 
before crowds began melting away before dawn. "Get out! Get 
out!" people chanted, venting their anger at Duhalde's 
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