New photos and videos have emerged showing the inhumane conditions under which the officers of the Buenos Aires Police worked during the operation for Pope Leo XIV's visit to Luján, exposing the humiliation the agents endured during the days of deployment ordered by the Kirchnerist governor Axel Kicillof.
The images, shared by the police themselves, show members of the force sleeping in the street, on gym floors, courtyards, and even roofs or fronts of houses.
The complaints about the serious situation pointed directly at the organization of the operation set by Kicillof and exposed a series of deficiencies in terms of accommodation, food, and hygiene.
According to testimonies, some officers even had to rest by the roadside and under trees, due to the lack of adequate spaces to accommodate personnel.
Officers sleeping on the floor.
The images shared by the agents reflected the conditions they had to face during the operation. They show police officers using the ground as a resting place, while others had to use cardboard as a "bed" to sleep on the street.
"It wasn't enough for them to urinate on us, they wiped their genitals on us; this is the police of the province, which survives thanks to the people and the effort and will that each officer puts in. This is not new for us, we live thrown away, we are used to surviving with what we have and can. We search through the trash for cardboard to lie down on the floor to sleep", wrote one of the officers indignantly on social media.
Complaint of cash.
The discontent was also related to the lack of basic services. The officers reported that many police did not have access to bathrooms or showers. Complaints also included broken cots, worn-out mattresses, and overcrowded accommodation conditions.
Food was another point of contention. The agents claimed they received expired meals, in poor condition, and in insufficient quantities to cope with the long working hours.
Cops sleeping in a yard.
"A disgrace what we are experiencing. Some of us have gone more than 48 hours without being able to sleep or clean ourselves, and now we have to stay awake until tomorrow. The food was expired, in poor condition, and they don't even pay us a per diem. They paid 300,000 pesos for 5 days under those conditions", recounted one of the officers.
In relation to that statement, another complaint was related to the economic compensation and the salary conditions of the operation. The officers questioned the low amounts received in light of the extended hours and the demands of remaining deployed in Luján during the Pope's activities.
Police officers sleeping in the street.
In addition to the accommodation and food conditions, a measure that also caused discontent within the force was the withdrawal of service pistols from part of the personnel assigned to the operation. The agents criticized having to perform security functions in public without their weapons, which put their lives at risk.
The photos shared by the officers themselves and their testimonies once again demonstrated how little the Kicillof government values its security forces and the humiliation the police had to endure during the operation.
