By Daniel Schweimler BBC News, Buenos Aires

The rally will put pressure on the president

They represented several different sectors of society and were led by a local Roman Catholic bishop.

The demonstrators demands include higher wages and the demilitarization of the province.

The government will worry that the protests are taking place in President Nestor Kirchner's home town just two months before national elections.

The Argentine economy is growing and, according to opinion polls, President Kirchner's wife, Cristina, is almost certain to replace him after elections at the end of October.

But in his home province of Santa Cruz, the protest movement against him is growing and increasingly angry.

Thousands of striking teachers, trade unionists, opposition parties and ordinary citizens marched in the provincial capital, Rio Gallegos, with the local Roman Catholic bishop, Juan Carlos Romanin, emerging as their new leader.

That's likely to strain the already rocky relationship between the church and the government.

The demonstrators are calling for a number of things, including higher wages and what they call the demilitarisation of the province, the withdrawal of state police.

They also want a former aide to President Kirchner, Daniel Varizat, to be prosecuted after he crashed his car into demonstrators at the weekend.

Five people are still in hospital after that incident.

The local police chief, appointed by President Kirchner while he was state governor, has resigned.

Nestor and Cristina Kirchner were in Rio Gallegos at the weekend but left quickly and are unlikely to return in the near future.