Organisers of the first protest against President Javier Milei’s economic reforms in Argentina will have to cover the cost of security for the demonstration, the government has said.

Thousands turned out for the march on Wednesday to oppose Mr Milei’s austerity measures and commemorate the deadly 2001 protests that followed the country’s economic meltdown.

Manuel Adorni, a government spokesman, said a heavy deployment of police, paramilitary officers and anti-riot forces, cost 60 million pesos (£58,800).

“The bill will be sent to the social movements” who will “bear the responsibility of the cost which should not fall on citizens,” he said.

Mr Milei’s government has sought to clamp down on hundreds of annual traffic-clogging demonstrations in the capital, and is also threatening to withdraw social assistance from those who block roads.

Organisers had criticised the heavy show of security as an attempt at provocation.

“This reminds me of the dictatorship” of 1976 to 1983, said Eduardo Belliboni, leader of the Leftist movement Polo Obrero.

The security operation was supervised from police headquarters by Patricia Bullrich, the president’s security minister, televised images showed.

Mr Milei earlier this week signed an emergency presidential decree ending limits on exports and taking other steps to deregulate Argentina’s ailing economy.

The complex decree mandates more than 300 measures. It must be sent to a legislative bicameral commission, and if it deems the decree constitutional, it will remain in force unless both houses of congress vote it down.

The president, who has pledged economic “shock therapy”, told local media on Thursday the measures were “unfriendly” but necessary to fix macroeconomic imbalance. The country is battling recession, triple-digit annual inflation and a growing poverty rate.