A lavish reburial ceremony for Argentine strongman Juan Domingo Peron degenerated into violence, as rival factions hurled rocks and riot police dispersed them with rubber bullets and tear gas.

Thousands of jostling, weeping admirers of Juan Domingo Peron tossed carnations and cheered the late political strongman today as his coffin was moved through clogged streets of Buenos Aires for reburial at a new mausoleum south-west of the Argentine capital.

Relatives of former Argentinean president Carlos Menem today denied claims that Iran bribed him to cover up a 1994 anti-Jewish bombing that killed 84 people.

Eduardo Duhalde, an old-style populist from the Peronist party, was sworn in as Argentina’s fifth president in two weeks today - and immediately lashed out at the unbridled free market policies he blames for the country’s economic chaos.

Argentina’s interim president Adolfo Rodriguez Saa has resigned after a volatile week in office, saying his support collapsed within his Peronist party as he tried to surmount a deep economic crisis.

Last-minute political wrangling delayed the Argentine Congress from appointing an interim president last night as legislators argued over how long a caretaker should remain in office and when to call new elections.