Juan Grabois, Senegalese migrants locked up after protest

Social leader Juan Grabois was arrested on Tuesday evening with a group of Senegalese migrants.

Grabois, a close friend and collaborator in Argentina of Pope Francis, was protesting against recent policing activities leveled at a street vendors of Senegalese origin. Seven Senegalese vendors were arrested on Tuesday.

The protest took place in front of Police Station 18 in the Buenos Aires City neighborhood of Constitución, the same station where the men were held overnight.

Upon his release Wednesday morning Grabois claimed the men had suffered "a totally unnecessary abuse of power" and blamed "all government that have fuelled a climate of hate" against migrants and other "poor sectors" of society.

Grabois, who leads the Confederation of Popular Worker (CTEP), had published on his Twitter account earlier in the day that he would march on the police station to "demand the release" of two activists who had defended a group of seven Senegalese migrants from alleged police persecution.

"Xenofobia is returning, fascism is returning", Grabois told the press upon arriving to Constitución on Tuesday.

The Senegalese migrants had been Brough into the station at around 5pm Tuesday, according to Police who alleged the men refused to hand over their merchandise or identify themselves.