Venezuela: Protests against Maduro Escalate

Venezuela’s increasingly militant opposition stepped up its push to oust leftist leader Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday with protests that drew hundreds of thousands but also saw unrest leading to dozens of injuries and arrests.

In an incident sure to inflame the already polarized situation, a policeman died after being shot on Wednesday night in central Miranda state. The government blamed opposition activists clashing with security forces on a highway out of Caracas. The local police force of Miranda, whose governor is opposition leader Henrique Capriles, confirmed the death but did not link it to protesters.

Enraged by last week’s suspension of their push for a referendum to remove Maduro and determined to end 17 years of socialism in the South American OPEC nation, Venezuela’s opposition has sharply ramped up its tactics in recent days.

After launching a political trial against Maduro on Tuesday in the National Assembly, the opposition coalition held nationwide marches dubbed “Takeover of Venezuela” on Wednesday. “This government is going to fall!” crowds chanted, many wearing white and waving national flags as they congregated at nearly 50 sites across the country.

“This needs to keep growing so that the government understands once and for all that we’re doing this for real,” said two-time presidential candidate Capriles, blaming authorities for what he said were over 120 people injured and some 147 protesters detained.

Clashes occurred in several cities outside Caracas, witnesses said, including the Andean city of Merida and the volatile western town of San Cristobal that was an epicenter of violence during 2014 anti-Maduro protests.

Opposition activists and student leaders said there were at least five protesters reportedly struck by bullets in Venezuela’s second-largest city Maracaibo and San Cristobal. Rights group Penal Forum said there were over 140 people detained nationwide. The government gave no figures on injuries or detentions.

Coalition leaders called for a national strike for Friday, and a Nov. 3 march to the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, unless the election board allows the referendum. Maduro, the unpopular 53-year-old successor to Hugo Chavez who has presided over an unprecedented economic crisis, accuses the opposition of seeking a coup with U.S. help and has vowed there will be no plebiscite on his rule.

“They are desperate, they have received the order from the north to destroy the Venezuelan revolution,” he told a counter-march of red-shirted government loyalists. Despite sitting on the world’s biggest oil reserves, Venezuela is in the throes of a punishing recession that has many poor families skipping meals amid scarce food and triple-digit inflation.