Argentines protest after government freezes more bank accounts

Thousands of Argentines poured into the streets after the government froze more savings accounts to protect banks from a run by panicked depositors.

The government announced that amounts over $10,000 in checking accounts and $3,000 in savings accounts will be switched into fixed-term deposits that will be off-limits to depositors for at least a year.

Angry demonstrators gathered in the streets of Buenos Aires for the latest in a series of protests.

In the fashionable Palermo district, around 2,000 locals congregated and vented their anger.

"Please, please give us our money back," yelled one man, captured on television channel America.

Others shouted demands that the government call immediate elections and that President Eduardo Duhalde replace the members of the Supreme Court, widely perceived by Argentines to be corrupt.

Fearing that the violence that accompanied previous protests would repeat itself, authorities strengthened security around the Government House, Congress and other important official buildings.

Argentines had expected the Duhalde's government to lift banking restrictions, but instead it extended a ban on foreign exchange transactions until Friday, when the nation's currency is again scheduled to float on the free market.

Smaller balances could be transferred into pesos at the new official rate of 1.4 pesos to the dollar and withdrawn according to limits in place since December 1, after a run on banks saw Argentines withdraw $1.38bn in a single day.

Argentines can now withdraw 1,500 pesos (around €500) at the new rate, from their checking accounts monthly, and an extra 1,200 pesos (around €300) from savings accounts