The incident occurred within the framework of the Seventh March for Sovereignty to Lago Escondido, in which free access to this public domain natural site was demanded.
At least nine protesters and a photojournalist were held and assaulted in the vicinity of the ranch that British tycoon Joe Lewis has in Argentine Patagonia, the Telam agency reported on Wednesday.
The incident occurred within the framework of the Seventh March for Sovereignty to Lago Escondido, a mirror of water located in the province of Rio Negro and whose public access has been restrictedillegally, by the owner of the luxurious private property.
The protesters were repelled by Lewis’s pawns when they tried to enter the Camino del Tacuifi, one of the accesses to Lago Escondido, Telam detailed.
Among the injured, who were referred to a health center in the area, are the deputy and head of the Frente de Todos bloc in Parlasur, Gaston Harispe, and Celeste Fierro, leader of the Socialist Workers Movement (MST). .
“We walked two kilometers to reach the gate. We went in absolute peace. Journalists, political leaders, each one of us presented ourselves as what we were. A certain man ‘Puchi’ told us to leave. They began to herd us with the horses and hit us with whips.. A young woman has her head broken by a blow. Another has a bump and another has a broken nose,” said Telam photojournalist Alejandra Bartoliche.
The natural site, located in a paradisiacal Patagonian environment, near the city of San Carlos de Bariloche, has been the cause of conflict for almost two decades, due to a judicial and political dispute. On one side are those who demand that an access path be opened and, on the other, Lewis himself and local actors who have managed to block it.
Source: RT
