CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuelan police using rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons broke up a march by unions and political parties opposed to President Hugo Chavez yesterday in the latest clash between the government and critics.
Socialist Chavez has increased pressure on opponents in recent months after they won some key states and cities, including Caracas, in regional elections last year.
Yesterday’s march to mark International Workers Day and protest against government pressure on the opposition was repelled by police after a small group tried to push past a barricade. Protesters scattered to escape tear gas, bursts of water and volleys of rubber bullets fired into the air.
“We are blocking access because in agreement with the permit, the march is only authorized to reach here,” said national guard commander Alirio Ramirez.
Television images showed police pushing hundreds of protesters back along the street in central Caracas, with at least one person carried off after apparently fainting.
A few blocks from the opposition protest thousands of public workers and pro-Chavez union members took part in a government organized march.
“Why is one group allowed to march where they want, while other Venezuelans face barricades and fences?” asked Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma.
Many anti-government marchers carried posters of the OPEC-nation’s main opposition leader Manuel Rosales, who was granted asylum in Peru this week after he left Venezuela to escape corruption charges he claims are politically motivated.
The government has moved to limit the power of opposition governors and mayor this year, stripping them of control of airports, some hospitals and the Caracas police force.
A new law weakens Ledezma by dividing Caracas in two. On Thursday police and soldiers used tear gas and fired bullets in the air while seizing a health center run by an opposition mayor on the outskirts of Caracas.
