Politicians, celebrities and LGBT+ campaigners have condemned an attack on transgender sex workers in the Palermo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, calling for an end to violence and discrimination against minorities.
Buenos Aires City Mayor Jorge Macri said midweek he would not allow “crimes to go unpunished” following the incident, footage of which was shared on social media by the alleged perpetrators.
Macri said he had instructed the city's justice and security ministries to launch an immediate investigation and identify those responsible, promising they would face “the full force of the law.”
The attack took place on Monday night in the Bosques del Palermo, near Avenida Figueroa Alcorta, where a group of young people allegedly chased and assaulted transgender women working in the area.
According to witness accounts and footage of the incident shared online, the violence began with verbal abuse before the assailants returned in a larger group, armed with sticks, branches, stones, traffic cones and a tyre.
The assailants filmed themselves chasing and attacking the women, with some footage posted online alongside captions mocking the victims.
Transgender activist Gabriela Ivy estimated that between 50 and 60 young people took part, while María Rachid, president of the Federación Argentina LGBT+ (FALGBT), claimed there were reports of more than 100 attackers.
Rachid described the incident as an organised “hunt” and said several participants had been identified after boasting about the attack on social media. She confirmed that prosecutor Andrea Scanga, who specialises in discrimination cases, had opened an investigation.
Around six or seven people were injured, Rachid said, adding that the victims had suffered psychological trauma and faced little choice but to return to the area because it was their only source of income.
No arrests have been reported at the time of writing. Buenos Aires City Police arrived after the attackers and victims had left the scene.
The incident prompted an outpouring of condemnation from prominent artists and celebrities, including Tini Stoessel, Lali Espósito, María Becerra, Emilia Mernes and Nicki Nicole.
Becerra described the footage as an appalling display of hatred and violence and called on society as a whole to defend LGBT+ rights.
Espósito criticised the media's relative lack of attention to the attack, contrasting coverage of her wedding last weekend with what she described as the silence surrounding violence against transgender women.
“I see some mainstream news outlets more outraged by the size of a wedding cake than by the fact that 50 young men go out into the streets to HUNT DOWN trans women,” she wrote on Instagram.
Television presenter and transgender activist Flor de la V also condemned the violence, saying she had not witnessed such attacks for many years.
The incident comes just days before Buenos Aires' annual Pride March, scheduled for Saturday, November 7, amid renewed concerns over violence and discrimination against Argentina's transgender community.