The mayor of an Argentinian city is trapped in city hall due to his furious constituency.

Roberto Sánchez, mayor of the city of Concepción, said the municipal building was surrounded by demonstrators who burned tires on Monday night. As The Associated Press reports, the mayor informed local media he has been stuck in the building ever since.

The BBC reports Sánchez claims the demonstrators are in a rage because he has refused to honor the employment contracts of over 400 workers hired by the previous mayor, Osvaldo Morelli. Sanchez says Morelli, who belongs to President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner's' party, artificially inflated the number of municipal workers.

According to Sánchez, nearly 500 people were hired by the city just days before Morelli left office.

After Sánchez took office on Oct. 31, he chose to keep only those municipal workers who he felt were doing necessary work. Sanchez said, "[Many] work only one day and get paid for the whole month."

The newly elected head of Concepción, located about 750 miles northwest of Buenos Aires, places the frustration of the surrounding mob on his predecessor's reckless handing out of jobs as favors to his cronies.

"This town works well with the 650 workers it already has and many of those hired by the previous administration have never worked for the town before," Sánchez said.

Prior to assuming office, a flash grenade exploded outside of Sánchez’s home.

Tensions in the whole Tucumán region, where Concepción is located, have been on the rise since August. There have been mass demonstrations in the province over perceived political irregularities.

According to La Nacion, the leader of Sánchez's party, José Cano, holds Tucumán governor Juan Manzur responsible for the protests. Manzur belongs to Morelli's and Kircher's party. However, Manzur has argued on his Twitter account that he stands by the mayor and has spoken with him on the phone. 

Protests are a common occurrence in Argentina. In June thousands of people took to the streets across the nation to march against a culture of violence directed at women. In February there were demonstrations organized to honor the memory of special prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who died under mysterious circumstances just before he was about to testify against President Fernández de Kirchner.