Copyright AFP, 2011 | Jul 29, 2011
Three killed in Argentine land protest
Three people were killed Thursday in violent clashes after police moved in to evict protesters from land belonging to a sugar company, authorities said.
About 700 families demanding land and housing had occupied the land in the small town of Libertador General San Martin in the northern province of Jujuy, one of the poorest areas of Argentina.
The clashes erupted when police, acting to enforce a court order, moved in to disperse the squatters."A police officer died.
So did two young civilians. There are 30 injured of various kinds," Roberto Maizel, the director of the Hospital Orias, said in television and radio interviews.
The state-run news agency Telam said judicial sources confirmed the deaths.
The police dispersed the protest with "rubber bullets and tear gas and gunshots were heard," Luciano Narduli, a member of a leftist group that organized the protest, told local media.
Bordering Bolivia, Jujuy is one of the poorest provinces in all of South American nation, with about 670,000 inhabitants, of indigenous descent.
The region's rural economy is based mainly on sugar and banana crops.
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