Photo: Theft in Argentina
At least one person was killed and more than 60 others injured in a wave of robberies and looting in the Argentine city of Cordoba, where police are on strike to demand higher pay, police spokesmen said Wednesday.
A 20-year-old man died in the early morning hours from a gunshot to the chest, but the circumstances surrounding the shooting are not clear, police told the official Telam news agency.
Police remain off the streets while their union representatives negotiate a pay deal with provincial officials.
Officers remained off the job even though the Supreme Court ordered them to return to duty.
Schools, public buildings, courts and banks are closed, and public transit service was suspended Wednesday due to the disturbances.
Many businesses kept their security gates down to prevent attacks like the ones that occurred over the past 24 hours in different sections of Cordoba, a city located 800 kilometers (about 500 miles) west of Buenos Aires.
At least 52 people were arrested for looting and other crimes during the disturbances.
Cordoba Gov. Jose Manuel de la Sota returned home from Panama, where he was on an official visit, to deal with the situation.
Two people were killed and dozens of others injured in a wave of looting that started in the southern city of Bariloche in December 2012 and spread to five other cities in Argentina.