Gendarmerie forces face off with protesters on the Panamericana highway (Photo: Daniel Dabove/Télam)
At least two separate videos show how Major Juan Alberto López Torales runs and jumps on the bonnet of a car allegedly taking part in the protest by driving deliberately slowly on the highway, around 30kms north of Buenos Aires.
After Torales was knocked to the ground, other gendarmerie officers forced the driver, Christian Romero, out of the car and detained him.
The video spread rapidly on social media platforms and was picked up yesterday by local news outlets, sparking widespread criticism of the gendarmerie’s actions.
Last night, the National Security Ministry released a statement defending Torales, saying he acted “due to the risk of the car causing an accident with another vehicle or against the other gendarmerie officers on the highway.”
The statement added that Torales acted “in accordance with the law and following a police order to liberate the highway from a group of people insisting on obstructing the normal flow of traffic.”
National Security Secretary Sergio Berni also defended the security forces, saying that Torales had risked his own safety to stop the car. “No one is saying that the driver ran over the officer – it was a tactic,” claimed Berni in an interview on Radio Vorterix earlier today. “[The driver] is being charged with disobeying the gendarmerie orders, not for the accident.”
However, The Partido de los Trabajadores Socialistas (PTS) today released a photo of what it says is the judicial case against Romero and which states: “When the gendarmerie approached the car to begin a road safety operation, the accused abruptly moved the car the forward, running over the victim and causing minor injuries.”
The incident occurred during one of several protests outside the Lear autoparts manufacturing factory on the Panamericana highway north of Buenos Aires. Workers were demanding the reincorporation of 100 workers dismissed and 200 suspended by the company in May.
In several marches, the protesters clashed with gendarmerie officers on the Panamericana, resulting in dozens of injuries, mainly from rubber bullets, tear gas, and water cannons.
The actions of the security forces were also thrown into doubt by accusations that the gendarmerie had infiltrated the protests undercover. Videos show the man, dressed in civilian clothing and named by Página 12 as Colonel Roberto Angel Galeano, directing other officers until other protesters challenged him.
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