G20 Summit: Thousands protest in Argentina

Thousands of people protesting against the presence of leaders of the world's top economies, who gathered at Buenos Aires for G20 meet were kept miles away by police on Friday.

Around 70 different groups joined forces to call attention to a range of concerns, from workers’ rights to climate change.

The protesters marched down the 9 de Julio Avenue, one of the capital’s main thoroughfares while five miles away presidents, ministers and their delegations held talks. Among the leaders attending, President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese Premier XiJinping and British Prime Minister Theresa May.

United States President Donald Trump, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Canada and Mexico signed a new trade agreement, the USMCA pact, a modernization of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Demonstrators expressed concern about the lack of access to the leaders.

“There is no opportunity to chat with them,” said Pablo Micheli, Secretary of the Argentine Workers’ Central Union. He said dialogue with representatives from the protesting organizations would strengthen democracies and that is why workers should get a seat at the table.

There were a few security incidents during the demonstrations. Police detained four people, three of them teenaged boys who brought nails and hammers, two of many objects security forces had banned from the protest. Police also found eight bottles transformed into potential explosives in an abandoned taxi cab downtown.

Argentine Security Minister Patricia Bullrich had warned Buenos Aires residents to leave the city for a long weekend and avoid what she called a “complicated” security set up, which included 2,200 law enforcement agents, metal barricades and road closures. Authorities declared Friday a national holiday and shut down all public transportation and many roads. “There will be zero tolerance,” she said.

The G20, which ends Saturday, is the first time the summit has been held in a Latin American country.