Argentina's Senate approved the Inviolability of Private Property bill in the early hours of Friday by 37 votes to 33, after an eleven-hour session that stretched through the night. The governing bloc of President Javier Milei's La Libertad Avanza — a libertarian political movement — secured the narrow majority only by withdrawing two of the bill's most contested chapters. The legislation now moves to the Chamber of Deputies for consideration.

The two removed chapters had attracted fierce resistance from within and beyond the governing coalition. The first would have allowed foreign individuals, companies and investment funds to purchase rural land without the existing restrictions; allied provincial governors had opposed it, citing fears over food security, national sovereignty over natural resources, and potential harm to indigenous communities. The second would have rolled back the Fire Management Law, which currently prohibits any change of land use for 60 years on native forests, wetlands and fire-affected protected areas, and for 30 years on farmland, grasslands and scrub. The reform would have retained restrictions only for native forests. Senator Edith Terenzi, who chairs the Environment Committee, said the chapter contradicted Argentina's obligations under the Escazú Agreement, an international treaty on environmental rights. The vote marked the fourth attempt by the government to pass the bill through the Senate, and the concessions were widely seen as a significant setback for Milei's broader deregulation agenda.

The approved text retains three areas of reform. On evictions, it introduces an expedited court procedure, provision for early restitution of property where a landlord's claim appears plausible, and electronic notification of legal proceedings. On expropriations — the state's power to compulsorily acquire private assets — it requires that any such action meet strict criteria of suitability, necessity and proportionality, and sets the valuation of an asset at its worth immediately before any state action that might affect its price. Critics, including Peronist senator Martín Soria, argued this provision is designed to make it legally and financially more difficult for any future government to renationalise privatised companies. The bill also modifies the Real Estate Property Registry.

Outside Congress, tens of thousands gathered from midday despite heavy rain, called by Argentina's main labour federation, the CGT, alongside union groupings, teachers' organisations, Peronist and left-wing parties, students and unaffiliated citizens. Simultaneous rallies took place in at least seven other cities, including Rosario, Córdoba and Mendoza. After roughly six hours of largely peaceful protest, clashes broke out between demonstrators and the approximately 820 police officers deployed under the government's anti-picket protocol. Officers used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon; in response, some demonstrators threw stones and bottles. At least twelve people were arrested on charges of assault and resisting authority, four officers were injured, and among protesters at least two were struck by rubber bullets and one man sustained a serious eye injury. A photojournalist was also treated in hospital for a head wound.

The episode underscores the political constraints Milei faces in translating his radical economic programme into legislation. Earlier in the drafting process the government had also been forced to drop a provision that would have abolished a programme granting formal property titles to residents of Buenos Aires's informal settlements, after the Catholic Church warned it would leave poor families without legal security over their land. With the bill still requiring approval from the lower house, further negotiations are expected before it can become law.