Security forces faced off with demonstrators in streets blocked by burning barricades in several Venezuelan cities today in an escalation of protests against President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist government, witnesses said.
At least five people have died since protests turned violent last week, with scores injured and arrested.
The demonstrators, mainly students, blame the government for violent crime, high inflation, shortages of many products and the alleged repression of opponents.
In affluent east Caracas overnight, security forces fired tear gas and bullets, chasing youths who threw Molotov cocktails and blocked streets with burning trash, witnesses said.
Residents in middle-class neighborhoods banged pots and pans in a traditional form of protest, and demonstrators were out again today.
There were similar scenes in the western Andean states of Tachira and Merida that have been especially volatile since hardline opposition leaders called supporters onto the streets in early February demanding Maduro’s departure.
In San Cristobal city, which some residents are describing as a «war zone», many businesses remained shut as students and police faced off in the streets again on Thursday.
With local TV channels not covering the unrest, Venezuelans are turning to social media to swap information and images, though falsified photos are also circulating.
Tensions have escalated since opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, a 42-year-old Harvard-educated economist, turned himself in to troops this week. He is being held in Caracas’ Ramo Verde jail and faces charges of fomenting the violence.
buenosairesherald.com