1.   An earlier round of speeches fizzled Tuesday when hundreds of police sealed off Merdeka Square with iron barricades.

2.   An early evening round of speeches fizzled when police sealed off a downtown square with iron barricades.

3.   But the shutters remained firmly closed, the palace surrounded by iron barricades and scores of riot police.

4.   But the shutters remained closed, the palace surrounded by iron barricades and scores of riot police.

5.   Even the Casa Rosada government palace, in downtown Buenos Aires, was blocked off by iron barricades after the devaluation.

6.   Hotel officials later said there were no shots and the guests heard a champagne bottle breaking and iron barricades being knocked to the concrete at the hotel entrance.

7.   Late Thursday, members of the verification force moved an iron barricade in front of their headquarters building and were only admitting members of the mission.

8.   Police put up iron barricades ahead of a scheduled march through downtown by hundreds of jobless.

9.   The clashes continued through the pre-dawn hours as roving gangs fought riot police sheltering behind plastic shields and hastily erected iron barricades outside the government building.

10.   The same iron barricades had been used last year and on plenty of other opening nights to keep away striking workers and animals rights activists.