Mass protest against rise in violence in Argentina

Thousands of people dismayed at the murder of an 18-year-old man in a mob beating gathered in front of Congress in Buenos Aires on Tuesday to demand justice and urgent measures against violence in Argentina.

The demonstration was called by Fernando Báez Sosa's parents just one month after his death in the beach town of Villa Gesell, some 370 kilometres (230 miles) south of the capital. The teenager had travelled there to spend the summer holidays with his friends. According to the case's prosecutor, he was with friends at a concert staged in a nightclub when he pushed into another group of youths.

Security personnel threw most of them out of the club.

Once outside, Báez Sosa and his friends were set upon by the other group and the 18-year-old died as a result of blows to the head and body. Ten people between the ages of 18 and 20, most of them players for the Arsenal Zarate Yacht Club rugby team, were charged in connection with the crime.

Eight of the defendants were detained as "co-perpetrators" of a deliberate murder, and the others were freed but indicated as "necessary participants". "What they did to my son is terrible, it's terrible, they didn't give him a chance to defend himself", the victim's mother said during Tuesday's rally, adding she wanted justice for her son.

Argentina recorded a murder rate of 5.3 per 100,000 population in 2018, the latest official number reported by the national criminal information system.