Stones flew and tear gas clouded the plaza outside Argentina’s Congress as workers clashed with police over President Javier Milei’s labour reforms. Chants turned to chaos when protesters hurled bottles and firebombs, met by rubber bullets and water cannons in a raw street standoff captured live.
Stones, smoke and chants filled the air outside Argentina’s Congress as a protest over President Javier Milei’s labour reforms briefly tipped into violence this week. What began as a mass rally called by trade unions and social movements quickly turned tense when a group of demonstrators broke through metal barricades and moved closer to riot police lines.
The confrontation that followed turned the plaza into a charged battleground, now captured in the dramatic video you are about to watch.
For hours, waves of workers, students and union banners flooded the streets of Buenos Aires, denouncing a reform package they say will strip away hard‑won protections and make jobs more precarious. Chants against “austerity for workers” rose above the crowd, drums and megaphones setting the rhythm as speakers warned that the bill would make it easier to fire employees, trim severance pay and curb the right to strike.
The atmosphere shifts in the footage the moment projectiles arc through the sky: stones, bottles and improvised incendiary devices hurled toward helmeted police lines.
Officers respond with volleys of tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon, clouds of white smoke rolling back across the square as protesters scramble for cover or regroup behind makeshift shields. Sirens wail, laser pointers flick across police vehicles, and the sharp crack of crowd‑control rounds punctuates the chants still echoing from the outer edges of the march.
The video lingers on the small but intense pockets of confrontation, a Molotov cocktail exploding in front of officers, lines of shields pushed forward step by step, and demonstrators defiantly returning to the front despite the gas.
Inside Congress, senators press ahead with debate on the reform bill that has become a rallying point for Argentina’s unions, even as clashes unfold outside. Supporters of the overhaul argue it is essential to unlock investment and boost employment by loosening rigid labour rules; opponents in the square insist it will weaken collective bargaining and deepen inequality.
The video captures this collision between two visions of Argentina’s future in real time, the smoke‑filled streets, the lines of riot police, and the determination of protesters who refuse to leave.
Protesters, police clash at protest over Milei labor reforms.
Argentine workers hurled stones and bottle bombs at police who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets as a protest against proposed labor reforms turned briefly violenthttps://t.co/NsmEJuRgnL pic.twitter.com/fwHqOztGhc
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) February 12, 2026
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