Argentina's World Cup party ends with clashes, arrests and injuries

Argentina’s unprecedented World Cup victory parade ended on a sad note on Tuesday as police and firefighters clashed with celebrating fans in the centre of Buenos Aires.

Security officials said that a total of 31 people were injured at the huge festivities out of an estimated crowd of five million. A total of 13 arrests had been made at the time of writing.

"Most of the injured were taken to different hospitals in the city, such as Fernández, Ramos Mejía, Rivadavia, Durand and Argerich, all of them with multiple traumas, but none of them serious," said Alberto Crescenti, head of the SAME emergency services, told the Noticias Argentinas news agency.

The most visible spell of unrest, however, came at around 8pm at night, when security personnel, reinforced by firefighters, arrived at the capital’s famous Obelisk monument to evict fans who had broken into the structure and scaled its height, reaching the very top of the structure.

According to local outlets, the fans barricaded themselves inside the Obelisk, forcing security personnel to adopt a more aggressive approach. Police sources told the La Nación newspaper that fans had resisted attempts to disperse them and began “throwing stones and bottles" at the security forces.

At least four individuals who were inside the Obelisk were arrested, they said, adding that the emergency services had received around 800 calls for medical assistance and missing persons throughout the day.

In addition to the clash at the monument, there were several other incidents of unrest recorded in several parts of the city, especially the theft of tyres from parked cars, damage to traffic lights and lamp posts. There were also problems on the Metrobus line, on Avenida 9 de Julio, where fans scaled roofs, breaking them and other elements of the bus stops in the process..