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Buenos Aires (AFP) – The Minister of Security of the province of Buenos Aires, Sergio Berni, was attacked with blows, kicks and stones by a group of bus drivers enraged by the death of one of their colleagues in an assault during the early hours of this Monday. The member of the Argentine Executive, however, commented that he will not criminally denounce the aggressors and he will not resign from his position either.
The attack against Berni, who was accompanied by minimal custody, occurred when he appeared at the place where the drivers were protesting the insecurity in the La Matanza area, on the western outskirts of Buenos Aires.
As soon as he arrived, they shouted insults at him and threw stones at him. The minister, dressed in a black jacket from the Ministry of Security, commented: “I’m here, guys”; “If I’m here it’s because I’m interested,” while the drivers scolded him. “Let’s talk,” Berni repeated. “You want to fix everything in the office and you lie to us. Talk in front of the cameras,” the protesters continued.
At one point he fell and then they also kicked him without his companions being able to stop the aggression. The incident was broadcast live for almost half an hour on local television channels.
With his face bloody and barely protected by a cycling helmet, the minister was taken from the place by the police, who later transferred him to a hospital.
The doctors determined that Berni suffered a skull and malar fracture, as well as a collapse of the eye socket, according to what he himself explained to the press at the hospital gates.
The minister, however, refused to criminally denounce the aggressors and said that he will not resign from his position either.
The demonstrators were protesting the death of Daniel Barrientos, 65, who was shot dead after two assailants boarded the bus he was driving and in which a police officer was also traveling with whom they clashed.
“We have already arrested the perpetrator (of the crime). We are working on it. There are two detainees, they are doing the dermotest. Working is the only way to guarantee the safety of the drivers,” Berni had told them when they began to insult him.
Bus drivers lynched Minister Berni in the middle of the street. The final symbol of a BROKEN Argentina, of a MELTED society, they destroyed all the basic pillars of a COUNTRY. There is no ECONOMY, there is no SECURITY, there is NO FUTURE. The beginning of the end. pic.twitter.com/czDKmPNYMp
—Nik (@Nikgaturro) April 3, 2023
The drivers carry out a protest strike on the main bus lines that travel between La Matanza and the Argentine capital on Monday.
Berni, a 61-year-old ex-soldier, insisted this Monday on asking the government of Alberto Fernández to send federal gendarmerie forces to guarantee security in the province.
“We make an infinite effort with scarce human resources, which is why we have been desperately requesting the presence of the gendarmerie in the province of Buenos Aires since 2019,” he declared.
The province of Buenos Aires is the most populous in Argentina, with 17.5 million of the country’s 45 million inhabitants, according to the latest census. 1.8 million people reside in La Matanza.
