Over Sunday’s contested election results tear gas and rubber bullets were fired against the protesters. Thousands of people gathered in central Caracas on the evening of Monday, 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 refused Maduro’s claim of win as fraudulent, asserting that their candidate, Edmundo González, won decisively with 73.2% of the vote. As the pre-election opinion polls had indicated a clear win for the challenger.
Opposition parties came together against González in an attempt to unseat President Maduro, who has been in power for 11 years, amid widespread discontent over the country’s economic crisis. It may be mentioned here, many 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.
A heavy military and police, including water cannons, filled the streets of Caracas with the motive of dispersing protesters and preventing them from approaching the presidential palace. The crowds were chanting ‘Freedom, freedom!’ and called for the government to fall.
The tyres burning on highways and many people on the streets, with police on motorbikes firing tear gas were the scene on the streets. In some areas, posters of President Maduro were ripped down and burned while tyres, cars and rubbish have also been set alight.
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