Argentine President resigns after second day of rioting

Internal links

Looting, bloodshed and panic as a nation's new poor explode over their economic meltdown

How the country was driven into a cycle of recession

Leading article: Argentina's mistake was to think there was a short cut to economic reform

Argentina was in political and economic chaos last night when President Fernando de la Rua resigned after a second day of riots sparked by government austerity measures left at least 22 people dead.

His resignation followed the apparent failure of efforts to stitch together a government of national unity with the opposition Peronist party. Earlier, the economy minister Domingo Cavallo, who was the main architect of the bitterly resented austerity policies, resigned.

As the political crisis deepened, riot police on the streets of Buenos Aires fired tear gas at hundreds of protesters, demanding Mr De La Rua step down. "Get out, get out," the crowd shouted at police guarding the presidential palace while emergency talks took place inside. Across the country shops have been looted and more than 2,000 people have been arrested.

In Washington last night, the White House signalled that it would not bail out the Buenos Aires government.

The crisis follows four years of recession, brought about by repeated austerity packages. These have been aimed at persuading the International Monetary Fund and other lenders to advance more money, to enable the government to avoid the biggest sovereign debt default in history. But this week the populace ran out of patience.