Argentine police used tear gas on early Thursday to disperse demonstrators in front of the Government Palace, protesting the imposition of a state of emergency. The police action came after tens of thousands of people filled the streets of Buenos Aires to protest President Fernando de la Rua's decision to resort to emergency measure to calm unrest sparked by the crumbling Argentine economy.

The protests came just minutes after the decree went into effect at midnight.

Residents in several middle-class areas of the city blew car horns and banged on pans in protest, then headed for the Plaza de Mayo, site of the presidential palace, as well as to the seat of both houses of Congress. Another 200 residents marched toward de la Rua's Olivos residence, in the northern outskirts of the capital.

De la Rua signed a decree ordering a state of emergency earlier on Wednesday, in response to mounting popular discontent over the country's crumbling economy, stuck in a recession for the past three and a half years.

Five people were killed and more than 100 injured on Wednesday in protests and lootings of supermarkets across the country. In the central city of Cordoba, three major labor unions agreed to ignore the decree, calling for a widespread strike on Thursday. Bureau Report