Protesters want a recall referendum to oust President Nicolas Maduro and they want it before a key date in January. If Maduro loses a recall vote before January 10, there will be a snap election.
Venezuela’s political opposition says Thursday’s mass demonstration—dubbed the “taking of Caracas”—against President Maduro brought one million people into the streets demanding political change. They vowed to keep up the pressure until Maduro is ousted, DPA reported.
“It’s going to fall, it’s going to fall, the government is going to fall,” chanted the protesters as many of them carried Venezuelan flags.
Opposition leaders Jesus Torrealba of the Democratic Unity Roundtable said it was the “biggest rally in recent decades” with “between 950,000 and 1.1 million people” taking part. Dozens of city blocks were choked with people angry about growing food shortages and an inflation rate that is expected to top 700% this year.
Tensions had mounted before the protest, as Maduro’s government threw well known activists in jail, deployed forces around the city and warned of potential bloodshed. One small group of protesters, reportedly wearing masks, pelted riot police with rocks and police responded with tear gas and several arrests.
Maduro led a comparatively small counter rally of hard-core supporters, many of them state workers. The number of participants was estimated at fewer than 30,000. He told them that political opponents, armed with plastic explosives, were plotting a coup, like the one that briefly toppled his late predecessor Hugo Chavez in 2002.
