Argentina’s new president, Javier Miley, and his allies are preparing new security rules in anticipation of protests that will erupt after he decided to devalue the national currency by more than 50%, but human rights activists are alarmed by measures aimed at suppressing the protests. , reports News.ro with reference to The Guardian.

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Individuals and organizations protesting will be identified by “video, digital or manual means” and then billed for the cost of sending security forces to monitor their demonstrations, Security Minister Milea Patricia Bullrich said at the time, announcing the new protocol on Thursday. .

“The state will not pay for the use of law enforcement agencies; organizations that have legal status will have to pay, or individuals will have to bear the cost,” Bullrich said.

The new rules aim to prevent a traditional form of protest known as picketing, in which demonstrators block city roads and highways for hours, days and sometimes even weeks.

“I lived for many years in conditions of complete and utter chaos. It’s time to put an end to this method of blackmailing citizens,” said Bullrich, who added that demonstrators could “protest on the sidewalk.”

Human rights groups and opposition lawmakers have expressed concern about the rules, which they say essentially criminalize legitimate protests.

“By promising order, (the government) is trying to suppress public protests against the consequences of the measures taken,” the Center for Legal Studies (CELS) said in a statement. “These measures violate the right to protest and criminalize those who hold demonstrations and harass civil and political organizations,” says CELS.

Left-wing parliamentarian and former presidential candidate Miriam Bregman told X: “What Bullrich announced is completely unconstitutional… The right to protest is the first of all rights.”

José Luis Espert, MP from the Miley party, answered him with three words: “Prison or a bullet.”

The new protocol authorizes police at train and bus stations to confiscate protective masks, batons and other items they believe may be used during demonstrations. It also restricts the participation of teenagers in social protests, establishing that the parents of young people who should have been in school and not protesting will be subject to sanctions.

Demonstration in Argentina (Photo: Matilde Campodonico/AP/Profimedia)

“Bulrich announced that the government is sanctioning the participation of girls, boys and teenagers in protests. In doing so, it blames mothers and fathers who demand better conditions for their families and excludes those who care for them,” CELS said in a statement.

TV presenter Mario Massachesi from the TN news channel recalled that Patricia Bullrich herself blocked the streets of downtown Buenos Aires when she protested quarantine measures due to the pandemic. “What authority does she have now to tell others they can’t protest?” asked the presenter rhetorically.

The protests are expected to be in response to massive wage cuts and huge increases in fares and transport costs announced as part of Myla’s Friendship economic programme.

Inflation, which had peaked at 160 percent in the final days of the previous Peronist government of Alberto Fernández, exploded into hyperinflation in the first week of the libertarian Mail administration. “Today’s daily inflation is 1%, which means annual inflation is 3678%,” Miley wrote on his Instagram page on Friday.