Overview
- Demonstrators and Mendoza police confronted each other during a pro–public university rally in San Rafael, interrupting speeches at the city’s kilómetro cero.
- Mayor Omar Félix says he was hit in the face with pepper spray while trying to intervene, a claim the Security Ministry rejects as a targeted action.
- The Security Ministry reports about 200 people at the San Rafael event, several injured officers, missing police equipment, and the dissuasive use of pepper spray.
- Organizers and local officials say police blocked an authorized street closure and later ordered youths to lower banners, actions they argue escalated tensions.
- Officials contrast the clashes in San Rafael with a peaceful turnout of roughly 20,000 in Mendoza city, as formal statements and a police complaint were filed without independent verification yet reported.