Venezuela's Crisis
Demonstrators clash with security forces during an opposition rally in Caracas, Venezuela. Photo: Reuters

With bullets, water tanks, pepper spray and tear gas the Venezuelan riot police confronted the opposition in an anti-government demonstration. Trying to disperse the angry crowd, authorities injured at least nine people, and one of them got shot on the leg.

Thousands of rioters were trying to make their way to congress to accompany opposition lawmakers in a march to the National Assembly, when the protest took a violent twist.

This all happened while the National Assembly wants to remove the Supreme Court magistrates, the same who issued a ruling in which they gave absolute power to the president Nicolás Maduro, annuling any function from the opposition-controlled congress.

Opposition delegate José Olivares and Lilian Tintori, wife of the imprisoned leader Leopoldo López, denounced on Twitter that armed groups fired at the demonstration.

After the police blocked the opposition's planned route, the crowd fled in multiple directions, and began launching rocks and throwing themselves against a police line. "The streets belong to the people," yelled the activists, some of them carrying signs that read "No More Dictatorship," and the Venezuela flag.

Due the giant barricade of riot control, the lawmakers postponed the congressional session. Even though the government backed away from the Supreme Court's ruling, tensions remain high.

The last week of March, the opposition asked to spread to the world of what is really happening in Venezuela. "Please help us spread what is happening here. This is clearly a coup," Venezuela's President of the National Assembly Julio Borges, said.

He also addressed the Nation in front of the National Assembly: "These gentlemen believe they can go over the Venezuelan people. The whole world is asking for democracy in Venezuela, not just the 24 nations of America," said Borges while calling garbage and breaking into pieces the sentence of Supreme Justice Court.

During the confrontations, politicians had to run to protect themselves, ending up with fatigue and irritated eyes. "This way the parliamentary investiture is not respected", Borges denounced on Twitter.

The session was held again on April 5, guarded by dozens of soldiers with anti-riot vehicles.

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