University March Against Milei Ends In Police Crackdown
By Javier Lorca
October 16, 2026
Professors, students and university officials demonstrated across the country to demand that the far-right president comply with the law on funding public universities.
Six congressional votes approved and subsequently reaffirmed the university funding law. Four court rulings ordered the government to comply with the legislation. Yet the government of Javier Milei continues to refuse to restore the funding it has been cutting from public universities for nearly three years. “What more do you want us to do to get answers? What approaches are we supposed to take, and how much patience are we expected to have?” asked Franco Bartolacci, president of the National Interuniversity Council, at the closing rally of a massive demonstration held on Thursday in Buenos Aires. Protesters demanded that the far-right government respect the funding of educational institutions. The demonstration came to an abrupt end amid a police crackdown involving tear gas and water-cannon trucks.
Organized by university officials, faculty unions, and student organizations, the fifth nationwide university march also drew demonstrators in Argentina’s major cities. According to the organizers, nearly one million people took to the streets across the country.
“In a democracy, the law must be obeyed,” read a banner stretched across the façade of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). Around Plaza Houssay, in central Buenos Aires, professors and students gathered at midday to prepare for the march toward Congress. The same scene unfolded at various points throughout the city, accompanied by road closures. “These people will not change their minds; they fight for education,” secondary school students chanted, bringing an infectious enthusiasm to the protest.
“If the president respects neither the law nor the rulings of the courts, he can no longer be president,” said Lisandro, a young social sciences student, indignantly. “For a year and a half, we’ve had strikes every month, and the professors are right. Things can’t go on like this,” said Paz, a student who had traveled from La Plata, about 50 kilometers from the capital. Students carried flags and banners identifying their universities or displaying a range of messages. “Why are they so afraid of educating the people?” one asked. “Does the chainsaw cut off our future, too?” read another, referring to Milei’s signature symbol of government spending cuts. A third warned: “If there is no education for the people, there will be no peace for the government.” Professors, organized through their unions or individual universities, carried their own slogans. “A teacher who fights is also teaching,” read one sign.
By around three in the afternoon, the vast square facing the historic Congress building was packed, and demonstrators were still arriving along Avenida de Mayo. In addition to university communities, the protest included delegations from the country’s major trade union federations—the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) and the two branches of the Argentine Workers’ Central Union (CTA)—as well as political groups and social organizations. Throughout the day, demonstrators from other movements also joined the protest with their own demands. These included organizations representing people with disabilities, one of the groups most affected by Milei’s austerity measures; organizations representing indebted people and loan defaulters, an increasingly widespread problem that has reached record levels in the country; and groups opposing the transfer of land into foreign ownership.
“Milei, obey the law,” demanded one of the large banners displayed in the square. The university funding law was approved more than a year ago by Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies and Senate to reverse the government’s spending cuts and adjust university budgets to reflect accumulated inflation. The president vetoed the law, but legislators subsequently overrode the veto. The executive branch refused to implement the legislation, arguing that it would undermine fiscal balance, prompting the universities to take the matter to court. At several stages of the proceedings, including before the Supreme Court, judges ruled that the government must begin paying the mandated increases in salaries and scholarships while the underlying legal dispute is resolved. Following successive waves of protests, Milei has granted only some additional funding, without complying with the law currently in force. According to various estimates, university budgets have been cut by approximately 25% since late 2023.
“We are facing a government that is destroying the country, working against knowledge, scientific progress, and the education of our young people,” said Ricardo Gelpi, rector of the University of Buenos Aires, during the closing rally of the nationwide march, from a stage erected in the square. By then, the rain was intensifying, and many demonstrators were beginning to leave. “Nobody is above the law,” Bartolacci added. The president of the National Interuniversity Council is also rector of the National University of Rosario. “They tell us there is no money in the budget, yet at the same time we see the budget for the intelligence services increasing by more than 1,000%,” he warned.
Until that point, the protest had proceeded peacefully. At around four in the afternoon, a small number of masked individuals, whom students and professors accused of being undercover police officers, began throwing stones at the security forces guarding Congress. From behind the metal barriers erected along the street, officers responded by firing tear gas, while water-cannon trucks joined in, unleashing powerful jets of water. According to official information, 31 people were arrested and eight police officers were injured.
Onstage, student leaders attempted to conclude the rally as planned by reading a statement agreed upon by the university community. Affected by the tear gas, they managed to read only half of the document. “We say to the president of the nation,” began Joaquín Carvalho, president of the Argentine University Federation, “that he will finish his term and leave the Casa Rosada, but the public university will continue to exist.”
© EDICIONES EL PAÍS
