Venezuela Gov’t: Protesters Attacked Hospital
Local Editor
Venezuela's government claimed that armed gangs, allegedly hired by the opposition, attacked a maternity hospital, amid continued anti-government protests across the country.
Venezuela's Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez blamed the opposition for the attack, which she said occurred on Thursday night.
"I denounce before the international community that armed gangs hired by the opposition attacked a maternity hospital with 54 children," Rodriguez tweeted.
She said President Nicolas Maduro ordered an evacuation of the hospital but did not specify the hospital's name or location.
The alleged attack on the hospital came after a day of unrest in the capital, Caracas, during which police clashed with protesters as thousands of marchers reached a vital freeway there.
Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters, who pelted them with stones and Molotov cocktails.
The demonstrators, who demand Maduro's ouster, set fire to trash cans and tore down a billboard to barricade themselves in, while police fired water cannon at them and a helicopter hovered overhead.
The massive protests began three weeks ago after Venezuela's Supreme Court stripped the opposition-controlled parliament of its powers. The move to seize the powers of the only lever of state authority not controlled by Maduro unleashed long-simmering anger and sparked the fiercest protests against him in three years.
That decision was, however, later overturned in the face of massive opposition.
The unrest has so far left eight people dead, including three on Wednesday, when hundreds of thousands of protesters had taken to the streets to protest against Maduro.
Clashes also erupted in the western city of San Cristobal, in the northwest, and Valencia, in central Venezuela.
The opposition called for a "march of silence" in all parts of the country on Saturday and a national road blockage on Monday.
The public dissatisfaction with the president is based on a devastating economic crisis, which has left many Venezuelans struggling with severe shortages of food, medicine, and other basic goods, among other economic problems.
Maduro, however, claims the protests are incited by the United States to remove him from power.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
Comments
- Related News
