BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, (Reuters):

Rival Argentine union groups battling with sticks and bottles on Tuesday marred a ceremony to bury former President Juan Peron for the third time since his death in 1974.

The violence erupted hours after thousands of Argentines packed the streets of Buenos Aires to pay tribute to Peron - famous for his marriage to 'Evita' - as his coffin was led in a caravan to a new mausoleum at his former weekend retreat.

Unions and leaders of the Peronist party were behind the move, aiming to make his burial place more befitting one of the country's leading figures.

They said Peron wanted to be buried at his retreat and they hope one day to inter Evita alongside.

But as supporters awaited the arrival of Peron's body, dozens of union activists hurled rocks at each other, unleashing scattered clashes. Television images showed at least one man firing a gun in brawls sparked by labor groups angry over not being allowed in to the estate, local television reports said. They said at least 40 people were hurt.

President Nestor Kirchner canceled an appearance after the fighting flared. Authorities went ahead with the burial ceremony even as the clashes continued outside the compound.

Peron's coffin was eventually reburied, but hundreds of people left the grounds near the $1.3 million mausoleum in the Buenos Aires suburb of San Vicente before the ceremony began.

The violence added more drama to the saga involving Peron's corpse, which has been disinterred, mutilated by thieves who sawed off his hands and was the focus of a lengthy battle by a woman claiming to be his illegitimate daughter.

Worried about feverish support among his followers, Argentina's military leaders ordered Peron's coffin removed in the 1970s from the presidential grounds and banished to his family's more modest crypt.