Today there were attempted lootings in a supermarket in San Juan. A few minutes after noon, a group of more than a hundred people organized themselves to try to take a hypermarket that the Changomás chain has in Rawson, a town in Greater San Juan. After a strong police operation that prevented the protesters from entering, several arrests were made.
About 10 people were arrested after being involved in the incident, where there were also several security officers injuredaccording to police sources. The looting attempt would have arisen from a call, which was not linked to any political organization and which went viral on social networks.
“Around noon, a group of about 70 people began to gather, claiming to be self-convened, presumably through social networks, without any organization flags, near our Changomás store in Rawson. Given the number of people, we made the decision to preventively close the branch, leaving only our collaborators inside, waiting for the security conditions to be optimal so that they can leave in safety. Around 4:00 p.m., the group in question began to struggle against the entrance gate, a fact that led to the intervention of the provincial forces to dissuade the behavior in question”, explained Juan Quiroga, director of Institutional Relations of Changomás.
When the demonstrators observed the arrival of the police officers, they advanced with the intention of breaking into the supermarket and a confrontation several minutes with the troops stationed in the area. The place was filled with stones, glass and other objects that the demonstrators threw, while the police arrested about 10 people.
In Changomás they highlighted the role of the provincial police that prevented the takeover of their branch. “Around 5:00 p.m., our 20 collaborators who remained inside the premises were able to leave thanks to a security cordon established by the provincial police. We want to highlight and thank the actions of the police, the provincial forces and authorities in their prompt intervention with a view to protecting the safety of our clients and collaborators, and bringing peace of mind to the entire community,” Quiroga explained.
Meanwhile, the Secretary of Security and Public Order of San Juan, Carlos Munizaga, toured the area and told the local press that “the preventive action made it possible to avoid the appearance of a large group of people in the supermarket” and maintained that during this later “there were two looting attempts that were prevented by police action” in the same locality.
“We had an alert that this could happen, so the security force was ready to act as it did,” he said.
Munizaga indicated that “as a product of the clashes There are several police officers who suffered injuries hit by stones and some patrol cars that were damaged” and that on the recommendation of the police, “The shops in the area closed their doors preventively”.
In the chain they also reported that if there are no new incidents, they plan to reopen the supermarket tomorrow.
With information from the Télam agency