Supporters of former Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez on Thursday hurled rocks and bottles in an attack on student protesters who were marching against perceived bias by Venezuela’s electoral council.
At least 10 students were reported injured in the violence that raised tensions in a country already sharply divided ahead of next month’s presidential election.
Hundreds of students had gathered at a central plaza in the morning and were making their way to the electoral council headquarters in downtown Caracas when they came upon a police barricade.
Photo: Reuters
About 100 Chavez supporters had gathered behind the barricade in the middle of broad Avenida Universidad and began throwing rocks and bottles at the approaching students. A few students lobbed the objects back, setting off a fierce volley between the two sides. At one point, several Chavez supporters pulled a student to the ground and repeatedly kicked him.
National police fired tear gas and scattered most of the students, but about 100 remained behind, left vulnerable to splinter groups of Chavez supporters who attacked from side streets. Police shooting plastic bullets ultimately repelled the attackers.
“The government supporters have ambushed us,” student leader Vilcar Fernandez said.
It was unclear how many people in total had been injured, and police did not release an estimate.
At one point, about 100 students were trapped by Chavistas who had blocked all the surrounding streets, preventing them from leaving. Many of the attackers wore T-shirts bearing the image of the late president and were chanting pro-Chavez slogans.
Police later escorted the students out of the area.
“It wasn’t our intention to confront or provoke violent acts, but the violence appeared because of minuscule groups that were sent to sabotage a legitimate protest,” student leader Gaby Arellano said.
She added that none of the students were seriously injured.
The election council sits in a neighborhood claimed by Chavez supporters, who have attacked anti-government demonstrations there in the past.
The protesters were demanding the electoral council eliminate requirements that voters have their fingerprints recorded before voting. The students also called on the council to stop Venezuelan acting president Nicolas Maduro from seizing TV and radio airwaves to promote his candidacy.
Demonstrators further demanded the resignation of Venezuelan Defense Minister Diego Molero, who has publicly supported Maduro. The constitution forbids the military from taking sides in politics, although soldiers are permitted to vote.
Opposition candidate Henrique Capriles has strongly criticized the electoral council for failing to stop perceived government bias for Maduro ahead of the April 14 vote.
KINGPIN: Marset allegedly laundered the proceeds of his drug enterprise by purchasing and sponsoring professional soccer teams and even put himself in the starting lineups Notorious Latin American narco trafficker Sebastian Marset, who eluded police for years, was handed over to US authorities after his arrest on Friday in Bolivia. Marset, a Uruguayan national who was on the US most-wanted list, was passed to agents of the US Drug Enforcement Administration at Santa Cruz airport in Bolivia, then put on a US airplane, Bolivian state television showed. “The arrest and deportation were carried out pursuant to a court order issued by the US justice system,” Bolivian Minister of Government Marco Antonio Oviedo told reporters. The alleged kingpin was arrested in an upscale neighborhood of Santa
FAKE NEWS? ‘When the government demands the press become a state mouthpiece under the threat of punishment, something has gone very wrong,’ a civic group said The top US broadcast regulator on Saturday threatened media outlets over negative coverage of the Middle East war, after US President Donald Trump slammed critical headlines from the “Fake News Media.” The US president since his first term has derided mainstream media as “fake news” and has sued major outlets over what he sees as unfair coverage. Brendan Carr, head of the US Federal Communications Commission — which oversees the nation’s radio, television and Internet media — said broadcasters risked losing their licenses over news coverage. “The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will
SCANDAL: Other images discovered earlier show Andrew bent over a female and lying across the laps of a number of women, while Mandelson is pictured in his underpants A photograph of former British prince Andrew and veteran politician Peter Mandelson sitting in bathrobes alongside late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was unearthed on Friday in previously published documents. The image is believed to be the first known photograph of the two men with Epstein. They are currently engulfed in scandal in the UK over their ties to their mutual friend. The undated photograph, first reported by ITV News, shows King Charles III’s disgraced brother and former British ambassador to the US sitting barefoot outside on a wooden deck. They appear to have mugs with a US flag on them
INFLUTENTIAL THEORIST: Habermas was particularly critical of the ‘limited interest’ shown by German politicians in ‘shaping a politically effective Europe Jurgen Habermas, whose work on communication, rationality and sociology made him one of the world’s most influential philosophers and a key intellectual figure in his native Germany, has died. He was 96. Habermas’ publisher, Suhrkamp, said he died on Saturday in Starnberg, near Munich. Habermas frequently weighed in on political matters over several decades. His extensive writing crossed the boundaries of academic and philosophical disciplines, providing a vision of modern society and social interaction. His best-known works included the two-volume Theory of Communicative Action. Habermas, who was 15 at the time of Nazi Germany’s defeat, later recalled the dawn of
RSS