CARACAS: Clashes broke out Wednesday between supporters and opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro as opposition protesters sought to show momentum in their push to oust him in a referendum.
Sticks, stones and punches flew on the Caribbean island of Margarita as red-clad Maduro supporters tried to block opponents determined to march on the town of Villa Rosa, an AFP photographer said.
Several protesters were wounded, said the center-right opposition coalition, the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), which accuses Maduro of steering Venezuela into an economic crisis marked by severe shortages of food and medicine, spiraling inflation, and rampant crime.
The scuffles came as the opposition held nationwide anti-Maduro rallies, seeking to show its strength by having protesters sign largely symbolic petitions calling for him to face a recall referendum.
The rallies amounted to a dress-rehearsal for an official petition drive later this month, when the opposition will have just three days to gather the four million signatures required to force a recall vote.
That process, scheduled for October 26 to 28, will be overseen by electoral authorities at 1,356 designated sites across the country.
But the opposition is hoping to score a symbolic victory before then.
“If we get seven or eight million (signatures), it will send a message to Maduro that we want change now,” said Ismael Dacorte, a 51-year-old lawyer, at one rally in the capital Caracas.
