CARACAS, July 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Security forces in Venezuela have fired tear gas and rubber bullets against people protesting over Sunday’s disputed election result.
Thousands of people descended on central Caracas on Monday evening, some walking for miles from slums on the mountains surrounding the city, towards the presidential palace.
Protests erupted in the Venezuelan capital the day after President Nicolás Maduro claimed he had won.
The opposition has disputed Maduro’s declaration of victory as fraudulent, saying its candidate Edmundo González won convincingly with 73.2% of the vote.
Opinion polls ahead of the election suggested a clear victory for the challenger.
Opposition parties had united behind González in an attempt to unseat President Maduro after 11 years in power, amid widespread discontent over the country’s economic crisis.
A number of Western and Latin American countries, as well as international bodies including the UN, have called on the Venezuelan authorities to release voting records from individual polling stations.
Argentina is one country which has refused to recognise President Maduro’s election victory, and in response Venezuela recalled diplomats from Buenos Aires.
Diplomats from six other Latin American countries – Chile, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay – have also been withdrawn for what Foreign Affairs Minister Yvan Gil described on social media as “interventionist actions and statements”.
Venezuela’s government also announced a temporary suspension of commercial air flights to and from Venezuela with Panama and the Dominican Republic starting from 20:00 local time on Wednesday.
A heavy military and police presence, including water cannons, was on the streets of Caracas with the aim of trying to disperse protesters and prevent them from approaching the presidential palace.
Crowds of people chanted “Freedom, freedom!” and called for the government to fall. — NNN-AGENCIES
