In Cordoba, central Argentina, workers who occupied city hall by force smashed windows and furnishings, then set fire to the building before police dispersed them with rubber bullets.
Earlier, angry crowds took to the streets in parts of Buenos Aires, smashing windows and demanding food, local media and police said.
The violence erupted following a march late Tuesday to protest economic austerity measures introduced by the government in an effort to end the country’s near four-year recession and avert a default on debt repayments.
Shouting “We’re hungry! We want food!,” demonstrators early Wednesday gathered in several places in Moreno and San Miguel, two densely populated suburbs of western Buenos Aires with high rates of poverty and unemployment.
One protester covering his face with his shirt told a television reporter: “We broke into a supermarket, took all the food, but not the booze.”
Police dispersed the demonstrators with tear gas and rubber bullets. There were no official reports so far of injuries or arrests in either Cordoba or Buenos Aires, although television images showed some people hurt and others taken into custody.
Government spokesman Juan Pablo Baylac denounced the unrest as “organized acts of violence” provoked by “groups of vandals who do not appear to be desperately hungry.”
However, Cordoba province governor Jose Manuel de la Sota blamed a lack of leadership from President Fernando de la Rua’s government.
“The poor are helpless, and the rich are worried. No sector of society is satisfied with what they are experiencing,” he said, speaking on national radio.
The unrest follows government attempts to check an economic freefall with more belt-tightening measures to avoid defaulting on its 132 billion dollar foreign debt, after 43 months of recession.—AFP