BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Police fired tear gas and water cannon outside Argentina’s Congress on Thursday as thousands of students, university staff and union members demanded that President Javier Milei’s government release legally mandated funding for public universities, DW and Al Jazeera reported.
The rally was largely peaceful, but masked people threw stones at police, injuring at least eight officers, and about 25 people were arrested, according to the National Security Ministry. Security Minister Alejandra Monteoliva said protesters wanted to “sow chaos” and that the right to protest is not “a right to exercise violence,” DW said.
Congress overrode Milei’s veto of a 2025 University Funding Law that ties staff pay to inflation and restores scholarships, and courts have ordered the money released. The government says the law is “suspended” pending its legal challenge; Milei has said “there is no money.” A federal judge has begun fining the government 100,000 pesos a day for failing to comply, Al Jazeera reported.
Public spending on universities fell 41% in real terms in the first half of 2026, according to a University of Buenos Aires research center. Thursday’s march was the fifth over education funding since Milei took office in 2023.
Sources: DW, Al Jazeera
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