Thousands March in Argentina Over Jobs

Tens of thousands of unemployed Argentines marched on the presidential palace Saturday to demand jobs and commemorate the second anniversary of riots that brought down the government.

At least 23 people were injured in a small explosion during the demonstration, but the cause of the blast was unclear. Some protesters said it was a homemade bomb, but others said a small gas canister had exploded accidentally. Police did not comment.

Municipal health spokeswoman Adriana Ghitia said most of the injuries were slight. A health worker at the scene told local television reporters that three people were badly burned when a device exploded, apparently in a garbage bin.

The blast came as demonstrators wound up the biggest protest since President Nestor Kirchner came to power in May. Columns of banner-waving unemployed people clapping their hands in unison streamed around the palace.

Two years ago, weeks of rioting and demonstrations by Argentines angered by a four-year recession and government austerity policies left 27 people dead and led to the ouster of President Fernando de la Rua.

On Saturday, there were few police on the streets and Kirchner’s left-of-center government said it would do nothing to provoke the protesters. City center storefronts were barricaded and the presidential palace was cordoned off. “Ours is a call for social justice and a job,” said Juan Carlos Alderete, a leader of a militant unemployed group.

Kirchner is hugely popular in polls but protests by the unemployed have proved one of the most difficult issues he has faced. Many Argentines, tired of traffic chaos, have called on Kirchner to end what they say is a lenient stance on road blocks.

Protests by unemployed people have become an almost daily event in wake of the nation’s economic crash. Argentina’s official unemployment rate, however, has fallen more than three percentage points in the last year to just over 14%.

Groups of unemployed were joined Saturday by human rights groups and leftist parties. Echoing the growing impatience with free-market reforms, protesters criticized the International Monetary Fund and a proposed free-trade accord with the United States as doing nothing to alleviate poverty.