Ah, so that's what it was all about.

Today we decided to take the free walking tour offered by our hostel and learn a bit about the city.  In the process we found out what the demonstration was about yesterday.  Yesterday was memorial day (March 24th, it was declared such only in 2006).  This is the date that the "Dirty War" started back in 1976.  The government that reigned from 1976-83 was the last military government of Argentina and reportedly quite keen on disappearing any opposition or supposed opposition - about 30,000 people.  But of course we also learnt about the Perons and how big the Peronistic movement was and the equal divide between love and hate for them.  More recently we learnt about the 2001 revolution and heard one perspective from a local, as well as being shown the newspaper articles about the presidents that followed.  5 in one month, and then a photo of an empty chair as they looked for anyone who was willing to take on the job.  

As you can tell there's certainly been a lot of upheaval here in the past and there continues to be plenty of protests and demonstrations in the present.  In fact demonstrations are a daily part of life and all around the city there are barricades that can be quickly drawn across the roads to block demonstrators from particular areas.  Many buildings, such as the town hall, have an obvious paintline as demonstrators throw paint at the buildings daily and every now and then it is painted over.  One particularly demonstration has been happening every Thursday since 1977.  The mothers and grandmothers of children taken during the "Dirty War" march in a circle around the Plaza de Mayo.  At first it was to find out where their children were, now it is to get justice for their deaths.  On Tuesdays another group marches who disagree with the mothers message.  Every week this goes on and each group paints messages on the ground for the other group to paint over.  

Tomorrow we will go and march on a Spanish school and demand some lessons.