ARGENTINA: BOMBS FOUND IN MAIN SQUARE AS MILITANT MOTHERS DEMAND TO KNOW WHEREABOUTS OF MISSING RELATIVES.

Record ID: 358227

  • Title: ARGENTINA: BOMBS FOUND IN MAIN SQUARE AS MILITANT MOTHERS DEMAND TO KNOW WHEREABOUTS OF MISSING RELATIVES.
  • Date: 16th September 1979
  • Summary: 1. GV Demonstrators outside Presidential Palace (2 shots) 0.14 2. CU Women demonstrators as changing of the guard takes place (2 shots) 0.30 3. GV Police try to clear area as bombs are found 0.40 4. GV Bomb disposal unit arriving 0.53 5. GV Police hold back demonstrators 1.05 6. GV Bomb disposal units checking area for bombs checki
  • Embargoed: 1st October 1979 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
  • Country: Argentina
  • Reuters ID: LVAEYHWAEQK589W1RFGRNC04G8AZ
  • Story Text: For the past eighteen months, angry mothers and relatives in Argentina have been holding weekly demonstrations in Buenos Aires demanding information about some 1,2000 missing relatives. They believe the missing people are being held in jail by the government. In the past, their demonstrations have been mainly peaceful, but on Friday (14 September), a number of bombs were found in the square where they were demonstrating.

    SYNOPSIS: For the past eighteen months, these demonstrators have been gathering every week in Buenos Aires' Plaza de Mayo. They are demanding information on missing relatives, whom they believe are being held in jail. This month, their cause was taken up by an independent commission from the Organisation of American States (OAS) which arrived in Argentine to investigate the circumstances behind the reported disappearance of five thousand Argentines.

    On this occasion, the weekly demonstration was not as peaceful as usual. Police found a number of bombs planted in the square and immediately evacuated the demonstrators. Bomb disposal units rushed to the scene, and explosive experts were brought in to defuse the bombs, which had been planted all round the square.

    Meanwhile, the city police held back the evacuated demonstrators at a safe distance in case of explosions. This was the first time the weekly demonstrations had ever become violent.

    Then the bomb disposal units moved into the square, checking all possible hiding places for bombs. Those that had already been found were prepared for detonation, once the size of the charge had been determined. Meanwhile, crowds of spectators mingled with the original demonstrators to watch the bomb disposal units in action.

    When the bombs were actually detonated, it was discovered that they were leaflet-dispersing devices, designed to blow up and shower bystanders with propaganda literature. Scientists later examined the debris to try and discover who was responsible for planting the bombs in the crowded square.
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