Argentina's President Eduardo Duhalde last night condemned the fatal shootings this week of two anti-government protesters, for which two policemen have been arrested.
"Once again the people supposed to keep order are the ones who carried out this atrocious hunt," said the unpopular caretaker leader, who faced roadblock demonstrations by the poor and unemployed on Wednesday in which two young men died.
They were the most violent protests since deadly December riots against economic mismanagement and misery that forced out two presidents. At least 17 people were injured and 160 arrested when police tried to clear a bridge south of Buenos Aires occupied by out-of-work demonstrators.
Thousands of protesters converged downtown a day later to peacefully protest the deaths and demand that Mr Duhalde quit. He has been unable to stabilize a devastating four-year recession or so far secure International Monetary Fund aid, and faces calls to bring forward elections scheduled for late 2003.
"Democracy will not allow these crimes to be covered up by impunity," said Mr Duhalde, whose Peronist government first blamed the deaths on extremists among the protesters, some of whom wore hoods and carried sticks, rocks and Molotov cocktails.
Mr Duhalde has frequently warned Argentina is on the brink of anarchy, with daily protests by the jobless and middle-class enraged by a seven-month-old freeze on bank deposits to avoid a run on bank savings. The country defaulted on its debt and devalued its currency in January, spurring inflation.