by thousands of pot-banging demonstrators massed around the Buenos Aires Obelisk and the presidential palace. These demonstrations were followed by others at locations across the country that included road blockades and food shortages. The protests were highly polarizing. The government argued that the new taxes would allow for a better redistribution of wealth, and keep down the food prices. It also claimed the farmers were staging a coup d'état against Fernández de Kirchner. Farmers argued that the high taxes made cultivation unviable. The activist Luis D'Elía interrupted one of the demonstrations leading stick-wielding pro-government supporters, who attacked the participants. Minister Lousteau resigned during the crisis, and the Peronist governors opted to negotiate on their own with the farmers, ignoring her approach. Her public image plummeted to its lowest level since the election in October 2007. After four months of conflict and having the majority in both houses of the Argentine Congress, the president introduced the new taxation bill. However, many legislators gave priority to the local agendas of their provinces as their economies depended heavily on agriculture. Many FPV legislators, such as Rubén Marín, opposed the bill. Marín argued: "For us, agriculture is the economy". There were two demonstrations the day of the vote: one against the bill, attended by 235,000 people, and the other in support of the bill, attended by 100,000 people. Farmers had announced that they would continue their demonstrations if the bill was approved without amendments. Senator Emilio Rached from Santiago del Estero cast the vote that resulted in a 36–36 tie. In the case of a tie, the vice president, who also serves as president of the Senate but without the right to vote, is required to cast the tie-breaking vote. Julio Cobos voted against the bill, which was then rejected, saying that: "My vote is not in favor, my vote is against". Despite the chilly relations between Cobos and Cristina Kirchner since that event, he completed his term as vice president. Other protests Fernández de Kirchner was reelected in 2011. The Constitution of Argentina allows only one reelection. Many of her supporters proposed an amendment to the Constitution to allow indefinite reelections. She did not publicly support the proposal, but did not discourage or reject it either. The proposal was not taken to the Congress, as the FPV still lacked the required two-thirds majority to approve an amendment bill. It was rejected by many