Venezuela braces for new protests amid unrest
CARACAS — Venezuela braced for new marches yesterday against President Nicolas Maduro, after the death toll climbed to 20 in three weeks of violence at protests demanding the leftist leader's ouster.
The opposition called for protesters to march in silence to the Catholic Church's episcopal seats nationwide in a show of condemnation of Maduro's government.
It will be a test of the authorities' tolerance for peaceful protests, after days of running battles pitting riot police and pro-government vigilantes against protesters hurling stones and Molotov cocktails.
The last protests, on Thursday, descended into a night of riots and looting that left 12 people dead in Caracas.
After yesterday's show of silent defiance, the center-right opposition plans to return to a more confrontational strategy on Monday, when it is calling for Venezuelans to block roads in a bid to grind the country to a halt.
The two sides blame each other for the unrest. The government accuses the opposition of hiring armed agitators to sow violence, while the opposition says it is the government using hired thugs and ordering the police and army to repress peaceful protests.
Vice President Tareck El Aissami accused the opposition of sponsoring a "spiral of terrorism" to trigger a coup. Senior opposition leader Henrique Capriles fired back that the government's "savage repression" was causing the violence. (AFP)