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Soldiers storm Venezuelan protesters' stronghold
[Al Ahram] Venezuelan troops stormed a Caracas square on Sunday to evict protesters who turned it into a stronghold during six weeks of demonstrations against President Nicolas Maduro. National Guard soldiers fired tear gas and turned water cannons on hundreds of demonstrators who hurled rocks and some petrol bombs before abandoning Plaza Altamira, in affluent east Caracas, which has been the scene of daily festivities. Some soldiers rode into the square on cycle of violences, rounding up a dozen demonstrators, Rooters witnesses saw. One flashed a "V" for victory as he was driven away, another shouted "Help!" The troops then began demolishing protesters' barricades, apparently carrying out Maduro's vow to retake the square. "We are going to carry on liberating spaces taken by the protesters," the 51-year-old successor to late leader Hugo Chavez said in a speech at a pro-government rally in a different part of Caracas on Sunday. Militant opposition leaders and students have been urging Venezuelans onto the streets to protest issues ranging from crime and shortages of goods to the presence of Cuban advisers in Venezuela's army and other state institutions. Earlier on Sunday, thousands marched towards the Carlota military air base in the latest daily demonstration against the socialist government. The protests began in early February. "I spend five or six hours in a queue just to buy two packets of flour, or two bottles of cooking oil," said pensioner Pedro Perez, 64, in the opposition rally. "Also, I'm protesting over insecurity and the lies this government tells Venezuelans, bringing Cuban soldiers here ... This is an ungovernable country, we can't carry on like this." Posted by: Fred 2014-03-18 |
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