Protests erupt after Milei vetoes university funding law

Tense scenes unfolded in Buenos Aires after Argentina's lower house of Congress failed to muster the votes needed to reverse President Javier Milei's veto of a law that would have boosted university funding.

Demonstrators clashed with police, shouting slogans and pushing against barricades as riot officers attempted to disperse the crowd.

Milei vetoed a bill last month that would have updated public university funding in line with Argentina's triple-digit inflation rate, one of the world's highest. Thousands of people have since demonstrated against his cuts to education and healthcare.

Lawmakers voted 160 in favor of the university funding law with 84 against and 5 abstentions, falling six votes short of the two-thirds majority of those present needed to reverse the president's veto.

Milei's far-right party makes up only a small minority in Congress, but it has formed alliances with conservative lawmakers to prevent the opposition from gathering the two-thirds needed to ratify the law.

"They are going after everything, and the worst thing is that we knew they would go after everything. They are attacking education, they are attacking culture and public health. They hate the people, they hate the working class, and they hate the poor. There is a lot of anguish," Demonstrator, Valeria Blanco, said.

Milei argues that the law would jeopardize a fiscal balance he has promoted to tackle a long-running economic crisis, and has pledged to veto anything that threatens it. Argentina's health, pension and education spending have been the hardest hit by Milei's public cuts.

The law vetoed by Milei would have adjusted public education budgets due to inflation. University salaries have lost around 40% of their purchasing power due to inflation.