The authorities in Argentina have arrested two policemen and suspended more than 100 others in connection with the killing of two anti-government demonstrators. The men were shot in Buenos Aires on Wednesday as police tried to disperse stone-throwing demonstrators protesting at the economic crisis.
The governor of Buenos Aires State ordered the arrests after a newspaper published photographs which appeared to show the police shooting one of the demonstrators in cold blood. Thousands of people later took to the streets to protest over the deaths at the National Congress Building, calling on President Eduardo Duhalde to resign. The BBC's Peter Greste in Buenos Aires says the new protest on Thursday by about 10,000 people - from manual workers to suited professionals to grandmothers in headscarves - was generally peaceful. But he adds that the government is keen to prevent Wednesday's incident from becoming a touchstone for more angry protests. 'Cold-blooded murder'
In a shocking sequence of eight photographs published in Clarin newspaper police appear to follow a group of demonstrators into a train station where they are helping a colleague already shot.
Then, apparently without provocation, the police open fire, fatally wounding one of the group. Our correspondent says that the photographs are likely to inflame the public further. Many people blame the authorities for what they say is cold-blooded murder, and the images would seem to confirm those suspicions. Anger at austerity
Demonstrators are also angry about the austerity measures demanded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that they blame for Argentina's continuing economic misery. The crowds on Thursday demanded food handouts and social programmes for Argentina's growing army of unemployed, and also campaigned for the removal of President Duhalde's government. Wednesday's violence was the worst since December, when 27 people were killed in looting and street battles which forced the then President Fernando de la Rua to resign. Protests have been a regular occurrence since late last year, when millions of people were plunged into poverty after the government posted the biggest sovereign debt default in history. The peso was devalued by more than two thirds and millions of bank accounts were frozen. The Argentine Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna is in Washington to plead with the IMF to grant a $9.5bn loan to ease the country's economic crisis.