CARACAS: Venezuela was rocked overnight by fresh violence in anti-government protests that have now claimed nine lives in three weeks, as an official reported on Friday the fatal shooting of another man.
Riot police firing tear gas fought running battles in the east, west and south of Caracas with protesters demanding the ouster of President Nicolas Maduro, witnesses said.
A man was shot and killed during one protest, said the mayor of Sucre, one of the capital’s 22 districts.
“With much pain, I report the death by gunshot of Melvin Guaitan, humble neighbourhood worker of Sucre municipality,” Mayor Carlos Ocariz wrote on Twitter.
“We demand that the culprits be investigated and punished,” added Ocariz, a Maduro opponent.
In the El Valle neighbourhood, resident Carlos Yanez said the scene overnight was “like a war.”
“The police were firing tear gas, armed civilians were shooting guns at buildings. My family and I threw ourselves to the floor. It was horrible,” said the 33-year-old construction worker.
The opposition accuses the government of sending gangs of armed thugs to attack them, and says the security forces have been repressing protesters.
Videos taken by locals showed residents throwing bottles and other objects out their windows at the gunmen in the streets below, shouting “Murderers!”
At one point, street protesters throwing Molotov cocktails managed to set fire to one of the armoured police trucks firing tear gas at them, lighting up the night sky. Fifty-four children were evacuated from a hospital in the neighbourhood.
There were conflicting explanations why. The government said “armed gangs hired by the opposition” had attacked the hospital.
The opposition rejected the allegation, saying the children had to be evacuated because of tear gas fired by Maduro’s “dictatorship.”
There was a heavy security presence on Friday on the streets of Caracas, as residents and workers cleaned up the destruction left by the clashes — as well as by bouts of looting.
The two sides looked set to spend the day regrouping after massive protests on Wednesday and Thursday erupted into unrest in the flashpoint western city of San Cristobal and several other cities.
Opposition leaders have called new protests for Saturday and Monday. — Reuters
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