Four women arrested for peaceful protest outside Congress released after outcry

Four women have been released from custody after being arrested during a peaceful protest outside Congress.

On Wednesday night, Federal Police officers arrested four young women for “resisting authority” while protesting the Omnibus law in front of Congress. All of the women were released on Thursday morning.

The arrests occurred after a day of tension.Demonstrators have taken to the streets around the National Legislature in recent days to call on lawmakers to reject President Jaiver Milei’s sweeping ‘Omnibus’ bill.

Once the legislative session ended on Wednesday evening and the majority of organisations had demobilised from the area, the women stayed outside. They were arrested while “singing the national anthem” and sitting on the curb.

According to national deputy, Eduardo Tonioli, who intervened at the time, police asked the women to stand up and move onto the sidewalk.

“I sat on the floor to sing the anthem, that's why they grabbed me. Is this legal?” one of the women told C5N. "I don't even belong to a political party, I came on my own.”

Those witnessing the situation were recorded repeating “they were not doing anything!” and wanted the police to refrain from detaining the protesters. The women refused to move from the curb, which resulted in their arrest and transfer to a police vehicle.

Tonioli told the press that the officers “beat them, took them away, and they didn't let us go on to preserve their integrity,” calling the incident “an illegal detention.”

Following outcry on social media against the womens’ arrests, prosecutors in Buenos Aires City decided not to formally summon the protesters for the incident.

Estela Díaz, the Women and Diversity Minister of Buenos Aires Province, posted about the incident on X (formerly Twitter), expressing “solidarity” with the women.

“[The women] are not going to remain silent with insults and discrimination: they stood up and denounced the irregularities of the ruling, still unknown,” she wrote.

In another incident, two men – identified by judicial sources as Ignacio Villagra and Sebastián Moreno – remain in detention, facing charges of assault and resistance to authority. ​