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Teacher's death sparks protests in Argentina
06 Apr 2007 19:43:47 GMT
Source: Reuters
BUENOS AIRES, April 6 (Reuters) - Two-hundred people blocked roads in an Argentine province on Friday to protest over the death of a teacher, wounded when police used tear gas to quell a demonstration, a civil defense source said.

The death of the 41-year-old teacher late on Thursday deepened a conflict between teaching staff and the local government in the Patagonian province of Neuquen, where teachers want better pay and conditions.

Many public-sector workers are currently seeking higher salaries in Argentina to keep pace with inflation at nearly 10 percent last year.

"They're blocking two (road) bridges that are key access routes to the province," said a source from Neuquen's Civil Defense, who asked not to be named.

"We don't know what's going to happen because the issue's not just wages. They're calling for the authorities in the province to resign over what happened," the source added.

The teacher who died was hit by a tear gas canister when police used tear gas and rubber bullets to force protesting teachers off a highway on Wednesday.

Teachers across the South American country will go on strike on Monday to protest the police response, which also drew criticism from the central government in Buenos Aires.

"If there really was an order to put down (the protest) in this way, the culprits have to pay for it. We can't have a teacher dead because of a pay dispute," Education Minister Daniel Filmus told local radio.
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A banner that reads "Botnia Go Home" is seen on the bridge linking Argentina's Gualeguaychu to Uruguay's Fray Bentos across the River Uruguay April 29, 2007, during a demonstration of Argentines who oppose the construction of a pulp mill by Finnish company Metsa-Botnia (seen in the background). Nearly 100,000 people marched near the Argentine city of Gualeguaychu on Sunday to protest the pulp mill project in Uruguay that they fear will pollute the river dividing the two nations.



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