Protesters urge mayor to quit over club blaze

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Thousands of people angered over perceived security lapses in a nightclub fire that killed 183 people, many of them teens, marched through capital streets Monday to demand the resignation of the city’s mayor and other officials.

Families and friends of those killed in the Dec. 30 fire marched on government offices, chanting slogans against the mayor and calling for toughened fire safety codes in nightclubs.

The third day of protests over the fire that injured more than 700 at a rock concert came as experts studied whether a flare launched by an audience member lit foam on the club’s ceiling, asphyxiating many with choking fumes.

City officials on Monday revised the death toll downward from 188 to 183.

Demonstrators staged two marches during a weekend of burials, charging that Mayor Anibal Ibarra’s government had not properly regulated club safety.

Many in the crowd of about 4,000 on Monday said Ibarra should be held accountable and new citywide reforms should be imposed on all clubs. They voiced anger over reports suggesting emergency exits were padlocked or tied shut, turning the Cromagnon Republic nightclub into a death trap during Thursday’s concert by the local band Los Callejeros.

The mayor rejected the marchers’ charges. He ordered city clubs closed for two weeks of safety inspections and banned indoor concerts indefinitely.

About 4,000 people, mostly teens, were packed inside the club – which only has a capacity of 1,500