Tag Archives: Violence

Venezuelan opposition activists march to Leopoldo Lopez’ jail

Opposition supporters attend a rally in support of political prisoners and against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in Los Teques, Venezuela April 28, 2017. REUTERS/Marco Bello

By Girish Gupta

LOS TEQUES, Venezuela (Reuters) – Hundreds of activists marched on Friday to the hilltop jail of Venezuela’s best-known detained opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez in the latest of a month of protests against the socialist government.

Security forces blocked access to the decrepit-looking penitentiary next to a slum in Los Teques, an hour’s drive from the capital Caracas, as the demonstrators shouted “Leopoldo!” and held signs reading “No To Dictatorship!”

This month’s wave of protests against President Nicolas Maduro’s government has led to at least 29 deaths in the worst unrest since 2014 rallies championed by Lopez, who was arrested then and convicted of instigating violence.

Venezuela’s opposition is demanding elections, autonomy for the legislature where they have a majority, a humanitarian aid channel from abroad to alleviate an economic crisis, and freedom for more than 100 jailed anti-Maduro activists.

Supporters say Lopez, the U.S.-educated leader of hardline Popular Will party, and others are political prisoners who symbolize Maduro’s lurch into dictatorship.

Maduro says all are behind bars for legitimate crimes, and calls Lopez, 45, a violent hothead intent on promoting a coup.

“This shows yet again the fear Nicolas Maduro has of people in the street,” said Popular Will legislator Juan Mejia at the National Guard barriers outside Ramo Verde jail.

Some inhabitants of a nearby slum came out of their homes to cheer as the protesters marched by.

“We would never have marched here before because it was very dangerous and pro-Chavista,” said demonstrator and marketing consultant Kailee Shima, 36, referring to the ruling “Chavista” movement named for Maduro’s predecessor Hugo Chavez.

Elsewhere, relatives of imprisoned activists and supporters turned up at other jails, including the Caracas headquarters of the state intelligence service Sebin.

“We are opposite one of the dictatorship’s iconic prisons where they keep dozens of political prisoners, opposite the biggest torture center in the land,” said another opposition lawmaker Gaby Arellano.

Government officials accuse the opposition of inventing torture stories to sway international opinion against the Maduro government and create the conditions for a foreign intervention of the South American oil producer.

The opposition coalition, which now enjoys majority support after long being in the shadow of “Chavismo” especially during the 14-year rule of Chavez himself, is trying to keep the pressure on Maduro with daily protests.

(Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Toni Reinhold)

Brazil protesters, police clash in first general strike in decades

Riot police officers are seen as a bus burns during clashes between demonstrators and riot police in a protest against President Michel Temer's proposed reform of Brazil's social security system, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, April 28, 2017. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes

By Brad Brooks and Anthony Boadle

SAO PAULO/BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazilian protesters torched buses, clashed with police in several cities and marched on President Michel Temer’s Sao Paulo residence on Friday amid the nation’s first general strike in more than two decades.

Unions called the strike to voice anger over Temer’s efforts to push austerity measures through congress, bills that would weaken labor laws and trim a generous pension system.

The blackened hulls of at least eight burned commuter buses littered central Rio de Janeiro as police launched rounds of tear gas and rubber bullets at masked protesters.

Despite the protests, Temer and members of his center-right government denounced the strike as a failure. They said that the unions’ targeting of public transport meant that people who wanted to go to work were unable to.

Unions said the strike was a success and pointed to adherence by millions of workers in key sectors like automakers, petroleum, schools and even banking. Strikes hit all 26 states and the Federal District.

“It is important for us to send a message to the government that the country is watching what they are doing, taking away workers’ rights,” said Marco Clemente, head of the 4,000-member radio and TV workers union in Brasilia, leading a picket line outside the headquarters of state broadcaster EBC.

Temer, who was in Brasilia, denounced the violence used by some protesters. He said in an emailed statement that “small groups” had blocked the population from using public transport and said that “work toward the modernization of national legislation will continue.”

Brazil’s last general strike took place in 1996, in protests over privatizations and labor reforms under former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

Despite Friday’s action, many analysts said the strike would have little immediate impact on the president’s austerity push, and that the bills are still expected to pass given Temer’s continued support among lawmakers.

BRAZILIANS ANGRY AT REFORMS

Temer’s reforms have deeply angered many Brazilians and he is weighed down by a 10 percent approval rating for his government.

He took over last year when former leader Dilma Rousseff, whom Temer served as vice president, was impeached for breaking budgetary rules. Her supporters denounced the act as a ‘coup’ orchestrated by Temer and his allies in a bid to derail a sweeping corruption investigation.

“This is not a government that was elected with these proposals,” said Bernard Costa, a 27-year-old medical student protesting in Sao Paulo. “These reforms are showing people that this government has is neither legitimate nor representative.”

“Shameless government” read one placard waved by one of a group of protesters who gathered outside Temer’s family home in Sao Paulo. Police used tear gas to disperse the crowd.

Nearly one-third of Temer’s ministers and several congressional leaders are under investigation in Brazil’s largest political graft scheme yet uncovered. It revolves around kickbacks from construction companies in return for winning lucrative projects at state-run oil company Petrobras <PETR4.SA>.

Temer has proposed a minimum age for retirement, which would compel many employees to work longer to receive a pension and reduce payouts in a country were many workers retire with full benefits in their 50s.

The lower house of Congress approved a bill this week to weaken labor laws by relaxing restrictions on outsourcing and temporary contracts, further inflaming union resistance.

The government argues that economic reforms are needed to pull Brazil out of its worst recession on record, cut a huge budget deficit, reduce record unemployment and modernize the economy.

The strike had a large impact on auto production in Sao Paulo, which concentrates the bulk of the industry in Brazil.

General Motors Co <GM.N>, Ford Motor Co <F.N>, Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> and Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler AG <DAIGn.DE> all halted production, according to company officials, unions and market analysts. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV <FCHA.MI>, the No. 1 car seller Brazil, said it was operating normally.

Union officials said most workers at state-run oil producer Petroleo Brasileiro SA <PETR4.SA>, known as Petrobras, joined the strike, but the company said the stoppage had no significant impact on output. Iron ore miner Vale SA <VALE5.SA> said the strike did not affect its operations.

The 24-hour strike started after midnight on Friday, ahead of a long weekend with Labor Day on Monday.

The benchmark Bovespa stock index <.BVSP> was up nearly 1 percent while the nation’s currency, the real <BRBY> <BRL=>, was little changed as investors assessed the impact of the strike.

(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Sao Paulo and Anthony Boadle in Brasilia; Additional reporting by Pedro Fonseca in Rio de Janiero and Brad Haynes, Alberto Alerigi, Roberto Samora and Guillermo Parra-Bernal in Sao Paulo; Editing by Daniel Flynn, W Simon, Leslie Adler and Lisa Shumaker)

‘End the injustice’ pleads Venezuelan official’s son over unrest

Opposition supporters clash with security forces during a rally against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

By Alexandra Ulmer

CARACAS (Reuters) – The son of Venezuela’s pro-government human rights ombudsman has surprised the country amid major protests against the leftist administration by publicly urging his father to “end the injustice.”

The opposition has accused ombudsman Tarek Saab, whose title is “defender of the people,” of turning a blind eye to rights abuses and a lurch into dictatorship by unpopular President Nicolas Maduro.

Some 29 people have died during this month’s unrest.

In many of the vast street protests in Caracas in recent days, marchers aimed to converge on his office, but security forces firing tear gas and water cannons blocked them.

So Venezuelans were shocked to see Saab’s son, a law student, breaking ranks with his powerful father and saying he himself had been a victim of what he called government repression against marchers.

“Dad, in this moment you have the power to end the injustice that has sunk this country,” said Yibram Saab in a YouTube video late on Wednesday, sitting outside and reading from a paper.

“I ask you as your son, and in the name of Venezuela that you represent, that you reflect and do what you must do,” added the younger Saab.

His father’s support would be key to allowing lawmakers to open a case to remove the magistrates of the pro-government Supreme Court, who have overridden the opposition-led National Assembly.

In the video, Saab’s son said he suffered “brutal repression” from security forces on Wednesday, when a 20-year-old demonstrator was killed by a tear gas canister that hit him in the chest. “It could have been me,” said Yibram Saab.

The ombudsman, a former student leader who became a poet, lawyer, and Socialist Party governor, responded in a radio interview later on Thursday, saying he respected his son’s right of opinion and loved him just the same.

“I love him, I adore him, whatever he might have said,” he told La Romantica station, adding that he always defended rights and condemned violence no matter which side it came on.

Maduro’s son called on Saab’s son to reconsider.

The president’s son echoed the government stance that demonstrators are terrorists trying to instigate a coup amid the biggest protests since 2014.

“Your three minutes of fame could have been different. I think you could have picked up the phone and spoken with your father, expressing to him your love and concern and listening to him,” wrote Nicolas Maduro Guerra.

The government has long accused the opposition of attempting to stage a coup, citing a short-lived attempt in 2002 against former President Hugo Chavez.

Saab, a staunch Chavez ally, was himself detained for a few hours during that coup, according to rights groups.

OPPOSITION BOOST

Opposition leaders said the video was evidence of fissures within “Chavismo,” a movement founded by the charismatic Chavez that has taken a hit under Maduro, a former bus driver and union leader whose presidency has been marked by a stark recession.

The opposition hoped Saab’s video would spur protesters to keep up street action despite fatigue, injuries, arrests and no sign of concessions from Maduro.

“The majority of us want a change, and that includes the families of those who today prop up this regime,” tweeted opposition lawmaker Juan Andres Mejia.

Maduro’s opponents are demanding a general election, the release of jailed activists, humanitarian aid to help offset shortages of food and medicine, and autonomy for the legislature.

They have been galvanized by international condemnation of Maduro’s government and Caracas’ increasing diplomatic isolation.

In what might have been a pre-emptive move to avoid expulsion, Venezuela has said it will withdraw from the Organization of American States, the first nation to do so in the bloc’s more than century-old history.

The head of the regional body had said Venezuela could be expelled, accusing Maduro of eroding the country’s democracy by delaying elections and refusing to respect the legislature.

“Today, Venezuela woke up freer than yesterday,” Maduro said in a speech to a women’s meeting on Thursday. “OAS, go to hell!”

Communist ally Cuba, which has not returned to the OAS after being suspended from 1962-2009, backed Venezuela “in this new chapter of resistance and dignity.”

But the United States said it would like Venezuela to remain in the OAS, so long as it complies with requirements. Separately, President Donald Trump, a strong critic of Maduro, said the situation in Venezuela is “very sad.”

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini condemned the violence in Venezuela, sent condolences over the dead, and urged the government to both protect peaceful protesters and set “a clear electoral calendar”

(Additional reporting by Girish Gupta and Andrew Cawthorne in Caracas, Lesley Wroughton in Washington D.C. and Nelson Acosta in Havana; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne, and Andrew Hay)

Brazil cities paralyzed by nationwide strike against austerity

A demonstrators holds a placard in front of a burning barricade during a protest against President Michel Temer's proposal to reform Brazil's social security system in the early hours of general strike in Brasilia, Brazil, April 28, 2017. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

By Brad Brooks and Pedro Fonseca

SAO PAULO/RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Nationwide strikes led by Brazilian unions to protest President Michel Temer’s austerity measures crippled public transport in several major cities early on Friday across this continent-sized nation, while factories, businesses and schools closed.

In the economic hub of Sao Paulo, the main tourist draw Rio de Janeiro and several other metropolitan areas, protesters used barricades of burning tires and other materials to block highways and access to major airports.

Police clashed with demonstrators in several cities, blocking protesters from entering airports and firing tear gas in efforts to free roadways.

Many workers were expected to heed the call to strike for 24 hours starting just after midnight Friday, due in part to anger about progression this week of congressional bills to weaken labor regulations and efforts to change social security that would force many Brazilians to work years longer before drawing a pension. In addition, the strike will extend a holiday weekend ahead of Labor Day on Monday.

This will be Brazil’s first general strike in more than two decades if it gets widespread participation.

Authorities boarded up windows of government buildings in national capital Brasilia on Thursday, fearing violent clashes between demonstrators and police.

Demonstrations are expected in other major cities across the Latin American nation of more than 200 million people.

“It is going to be the biggest strike in the history of Brazil,” said Paulo Pereira da Silva, the president of trade union group Forca Sindical.

Violent protests have occurred repeatedly during the past four years amid political turmoil, Brazil’s worst recession on record, and corruption investigations that revealed stunning levels of graft among politicians.

Nearly a third of Temer’s cabinet and key congressional allies came under investigation in the scandal this month, and approval ratings for the president, who replaced Dilma Rousseff last year after her impeachment, have fallen even further.

Rousseff’s Workers Party grew out of the labor movement, and her allies have called her removal for breaking budget rules an illegitimate coup.

“Temer does not even want to negotiate,” said Vagner Freitas, national president of the Central Workers Union (CUT), Brazil’s biggest labor confederation, said in a statement. “He just wants to meet the demands of the businessmen who financed the coup precisely to end social security and legalize the exploitation of workers.”

Marcio de Freitas, a spokesman for Temer, rejected the union’s criticism, saying the government was working to undo the economic damage wrought under the Workers Party government, which had the backing of the CUT.

“The inheritance of that was 13 million unemployed,” he said. “The government is carrying out reforms to change this situation, to create jobs and economic growth.”

(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Sao Paulo and Pedro Fonseca in Rio de Janiero; Additional reporting by Anthony Boadle in Brasilia; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Lisa Von Ahn)

Berkeley braces for unrest despite Ann Coulter cancelation

Ann Coulter speaks to the Conservative Political Action conference in Washington. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

BERKELEY, Calif. (Reuters) – Police at the University of California at Berkeley braced for potential clashes between militant left-wing and right-wing activists on Thursday, despite conservative commentator Ann Coulter dropping plans to address students at the campus.

Coulter, one of America’s best-known and most provocative pundits on the political right, said on Wednesday that she no longer intended to defy university officials by addressing UC Berkeley students on campus this week.

But Coulter left open the possibility of paying a visit to her supporters at the school, long a bastion of liberal student activism and a center of the Free Speech Movement protests of the 1960s.

UC Berkeley officials said classes would be held as scheduled.

But campus police Captain Alex Yao told a news conference late on Wednesday that his department would maintain “a highly visible presence” on Thursday, pointing to continued threats of violent protests.

“Many of the individuals and organizations which planned to protest Ann Coulter’s appearance or support it still intend to come to campus,” university spokesman Dan Mogul of told Reuters.

Indeed, social media feeds of militant left-wing and right-wing activists remained abuzz with vows to proceed with demonstrations and counter-demonstrations over the Coulter-Berkeley controversy.

In February, protesters opposed to an appearance by Milo Yiannopoulos, then a senior editor for the conservative Breitbart news website, set fires, broke windows and clashed with police on campus, prompting cancellation of his speech.

And in March and again in April, opposing groups from the far-right and far-left skirmished violently near campus.

All three incidents were cited on Wednesday in an open letter from UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks explaining the school’s position.

University officials said the Berkeley College Republicans erred by inviting Coulter without notifying campus officials in advance, as is required of all student groups, and by failing to submit to a “security assessment” to determine a suitable time and place for the event.

UC Berkeley officials denied that Coulter was unwelcome because of her politics.

After initially barring her from speaking on campus on Thursday, university officials proposed moving her appearance to next Tuesday. Coulter said she could not make it then and accused the school of trying to limit her audience by choosing a date that fell in a study week ahead of final exams.

Coulter then insisted publicly that she would go through with her speech on Thursday, over the university’s objections. But she said she changed her mind after student organizers withdrew their invitation, though they vowed to press ahead with a lawsuit filed on Tuesday accusing UC Berkeley of suppressing freedom of speech.

(Reporting by Lisa Fernandez in Berkeley; Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball in Washington and Jonathan Allen in New York; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

Brazil indigenous protest over land rights turns violent

Brazilian Indians take part in a demonstration against the violation of indigenous people's rights, in Brasilia, Brazil April 25, 2017. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Indigenous people and police clashed in Brazil’s capital city on Tuesday, as officers fired rubber bullets and tear gas while tribe members shot arrows in return during a protest against farmers’ encroachment on reservations.

The demonstration was peaceful until police blocked some of the indigenous people, their bodies painted and wearing colorful headdresses, from climbing a ramp that led into the congressional building, according to a Reuters photographer on the scene.

The clashes ended around dusk. Some indigenous people suffered light injuries. There was no immediate word whether any officers were hurt.

Dozens of indigenous people are killed each year in Brazil in fights with farmers and ranchers over land, often in the relatively lawless Amazon region, where hired gunmen have been used to push the indigenous off resource-rich reserves.

Sonia Guajajara, a coordinator for the march, said some 4,000 indigenous people and supporters took part in the protest.

It focused on legislation that would give the last word on deciding land boundaries for indigenous reservations to Congress, where a powerful farm lobby holds sway. Currently, Brazil’s president retains the power to set such boundaries.

“We carried 200 coffins symbolizing the genocide and deaths of indigenous peoples at the hands of the authorities allied to agribusiness,” Guajajara said.

She said the violent police response was nothing compared to that suffered by indigenous people in territories where deadly clashes continue over disputed land.

A police spokesman said the marchers went beyond the agreed point and invaded congressional grounds, requiring the use of force to keep them from entering the building. He said an arrow struck a police bag but no officers were hurt.

(Reporting by Ueslei Marcelino and Anthony Boadle; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Death toll in Venezuelan protests reaches nine

Mourners look at the coffin of Paola Ramirez, a student who died during a protest, in her wake in San Cristobal, Venezuela April 20, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Eduardo Ramirez

CARACAS (Reuters) – A man was killed in a protest in the Venezuelan capital on Thursday night, an official said on Friday, marking the ninth death in a wave of sometimes violent demonstrations against President Nicolas Maduro’s government.

Melvin Guaitan died of a bullet wound in the slum of Petare, municipal mayor Carlos Ocariz said via Twitter. Local media reported looting and street clashes with security forces in poor areas of Caracas late on Thursday and early Friday.

“We demand that those responsible for this incident are investigated and punished,” wrote Ocariz, without providing additional details.

Opposition leaders have promised to keep up their protests, demanding that Maduro’s government call regional elections that have been delayed since last year, free almost 100 jailed opposition activists and respect the autonomy of the opposition-led Congress.

They are calling for community-level protests across the country on Friday, a white-clad “silent” march in Caracas on Saturday to commemorate those killed in the unrest, and a nationwide “sit-in” blocking Venezuela’s main roads on Monday.

Maduro’s government is so far resisting the pressure of the most serious protests in three years. Ruling Socialist Party leaders describe the protesters as violent hoodlums who are damaging public property and disrupting public order to overthrow the government with the support of ideological adversaries in Washington.

“This wounded and failed opposition is trying to generate chaos in key areas of the city and convince the world that we’re in some sort of civil war, the same playbook used for Syria, for Libya and for Iraq,” said Socialist Party official Freddy Bernal in an internet broadcast at 1:00 a.m.

A Reuters witness heard gunshots and tear gas canisters being fired late into the night on Thursday in the working class Caracas neighborhood of El Valle, with numerous businesses in the morning showing signs of having been looted.

Local media reported similar situations in other parts of the city.

The OPEC nation’s economy has been in free-fall since the collapse of oil prices in 2014. The generous oil-financed welfare state created by late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, Maduro’s predecessor, has given way to a Soviet-style economy marked by consumer shortages, triple-digit inflation and snaking supermarket lines.

Public anger at the situation spilled over last month when the Supreme Court, which is seen as close to the government, briefly assumed the powers of the Congress. The protests were further fueled when the government barred the opposition’s best-known leader, two-time presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, from holding public office.

(Reporting by Eyanir Chinea and Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Frances Kerry)

Accused gunman in Fresno shooting spree charged in motel murder

A road is blocked by police tape after a multiple victim shooting incident in downtown Fresno, California, U.S. April 18, 2017. Fresno County Sheriff/Handout via REUTERS

By Dan Whitcomb

(Reuters) – A suspect nicknamed Black Jesus who police say killed three white men during a racially motivated shooting spree in downtown Fresno, California, was charged on Thursday with the murder of an unarmed Motel 6 security guard days earlier.

Kori Ali Muhammad, 39, was also charged by Fresno County prosecutors with the attempted murder of a second security guard at the motel on April 13, five days before the shooting rampage.

A spokeswoman for the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office said Muhammad would be charged in connection with the fatal gun spree after police investigators submit final reports in the case.

Police have said Muhammad was bent on killing as many white men as possible when he gunned down the three men in downtown Fresno and fired at another, who was missed by the bullets.

Although Muhammad shouted: “Allu Akhbar” as he was taken into custody, Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer has said the case did not appear to be an act of terrorism.

“Kori Muhammad is not a terrorist, but he is a racist, and he is filled with hate, and he set out this week to kill as many people as he could,” Dyer told reporters on Wednesday.

Dyer said at the news conference that Muhammad, who went by the nickname Black Jesus, opened fire in the parking lot of a Fresno-area Motel 6 because he felt disrespected after being asked to move out. Security guard Carl Williams was slain.

On Tuesday morning, he logged onto the internet at a Starbucks coffee shop and learned that police had identified him as the assailant in that crime.

“What he told our detectives last night was that once he saw he was wanted for murder, he was not going to go down for shooting a security guard for disrespecting him, but that he was going to kill as many white males as possible,” Dyer said.

Police say Muhammad opened fire 17 times at about 10:45 a.m. on Tuesday as he walked and ran along several blocks in Fresno, killing the three men in less than four minutes.

Fresno is an agricultural hub in California’s central valley, about 170 miles (275 km) southeast of San Francisco.

Muhammad faces a maximum of life in prison if convicted of the two charges filed against him on Thursday. He was expected to make an initial court appearance as early as Friday morning.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Seeking to keep up pressure, Venezuela opposition plans more protests

Damage is seen at the entrance of a bakery after it was looted in Caracas, Venezuela April 20, 2017. REUTERS/Christian Veron

By Brian Ellsworth and Diego Oré

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s opposition renewed nationwide protests on Thursday to pressure President Nicolas Maduro to hold elections and improve a collapsing economy, and vowed to keep up pressure by staging three more protests in the next four days.

Thursday’s crowds were smaller than the hundreds of thousands of people who flooded the streets of Caracas and provincial cities on Wednesday, the latest and largest in several weeks of protests against what Maduro’s opponents condemn as a lurch toward dictatorship.

But still, thousands of people waving Venezuelan flags and shouting “No more dictatorship” took to the streets in the capital and across the oil-rich nation.

The opposition’s leadership then called for further protests in communities across Venezuela on Friday, a white-clad “silent” march in Caracas on Saturday to commemorate the eight people killed during unrest this month, and a nationwide “sit-in” blocking Venezuela’s main roads on Monday.

That sets the stage for prolonged disruption in volatile Venezuela, where security forces have been blocking rallies this month and protests have dissolved into clashes with rock-throwing youth.

“Today the people of Venezuela showed they are committed to this cause,” said opposition lawmaker Freddy Guevara during a news conference late on Thursday, urging people to stay on the streets.

Government officials dismiss the protests, characterized by street barricades and clashes with security forces, as violent and lawless efforts to overthrow Maduro’s leftist government with the backing of ideological adversaries in Washington.

The opposition counters that Maduro, deeply unpopular as Venezuelans grapple with triple-digit inflation and shortages of food and basic consumer goods, is seeking to stay in power indefinitely by barring opposition leaders from office and quashing independent state institutions.

“Protests will need to grow and persist over the coming weeks to force a political transition,” Eurasia analyst Risa Grais-Targow said in a note on Thursday.

“The opposition’s response to regional elections, which the National Electoral Council will probably call in the coming days, will be key to maintaining momentum in the streets.”

The current wave of marches, the most sustained protests against Maduro since 2014, has sparked regular melees. There were also late-night barricades and some looting in Caracas’ middle-class neighborhood of El Paraiso on Wednesday night.

Two students and a National Guard sergeant were killed in Wednesday’s demonstrations, bringing the death toll in demonstrations this month to eight. Rights group Penal Forum said more than 500 people were arrested in relation to Wednesday’s protest and 334 remained in detention.

CAPRILES IN THE EYE OF THE STORM

The renewed wave of protests was sparked by a Supreme Court move in March to assume the powers of the opposition-led Congress, a move that it largely reversed a few days later. They were further fueled when the government barred the opposition’s best-known leader, two-time presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, from holding public office.

Maduro on Thursday night said Capriles wrongly accused authorities of killing university student Paolo Ramirez in the restive Tachira state near Colombia on Wednesday. Her boyfriend and mother have both said she was shot down by government supporters chasing her on motorbikes after a protest.

“Immediately the global media and those irresponsible people, including that trash called Capriles, came out to accuse the government, the revolution, the army, the National Guard,” Maduro said, wearing a white doctor’s gown during a televised address meant to showcase Venezuela’s health system, which is in fact crumbling.

“I’ve authorized a lawsuit, a complaint for the honor of these people who have been accused. If he has to go to jail, he should go and pay for this defamation, this slander, all the crimes he’s committed,” added Maduro.

Capriles responded on Twitter that Maduro, “like all dictators,” is a compulsive liar, and called on Venezuelans to keep up protests.

That push increasingly mirrors protests in 2014 in which Maduro’s critics barricaded streets and battled police for close to three months. That effort ultimately faded amid protester fatigue and a heavy state crackdown.

But the sharp deterioration of the economy, which has put many foods and medicines out of the reach of the average citizen, and a more organized and united opposition coalition have injected fresh energy into the current protests.

“This is the moment,” said Raquel Belfort, a 42-year-old protester in wealthier eastern Caracas on Thursday, sporting a hat in the yellow, blue and red colors of the Venezuelan flag.

“People are sick of this…. we’ve touched rock bottom. I think if we take to the streets every day we’ll end this government.”

Maduro critics increasingly doubt that the ruling Socialist Party, which was soundly defeated in 2015 legislative elections, will allow for free and fair elections. The ballot for state governors has been delayed since last year and elections authorities have not announced when it will be held.

(Additional reporting by Eyanir Chinea, Andreina Aponte, Alexandra Ulmer, Girish Gupta, and Christian Veron in Caracas, Maria Ramirez in Puerto Ordaz, Anggy Polanco in San Cristobal, and Mircely Guanipa in Punto Fijo; Writing by Alexandra Ulmer and Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Frances Kerry and Lisa Shumaker)

Paris gunman’s criminal past in focus as police hunt second suspect

French CRS police patrol the Champs Elysees Avenue the day after a policeman was killed and two others were wounded in a shooting incident in Paris, France, April 21, 2017. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

By Emmanuel Jarry and John Irish

PARIS (Reuters) – The man who shot dead a French policeman in an Islamist militant attack had served time for armed assaults on law enforcement officers, police sources said on Friday, as authorities sought a second suspect flagged by Belgian security services.

The gunman, identified as Karim Cheurfi, opened fire on a police vehicle parked on the Champs Elysees in Paris late on Thursday, killing one officer and injuring two others before being shot dead.

The attack overshadowed the last day of campaigning for Sunday’s presidential election first round, bringing raw issues surrounding Islamist militancy to the fore.

Cheurfi, a French national who lived in the eastern Paris suburb of Chelles, had been convicted for previous armed assaults on law enforcement officers going back 16 years, the sources said, and was well known to authorities.

In addition to the assault rifle used in the attack, he had a pump action shotgun and knives in his car, the sources said. Three of his family members have been placed in detention, the French interior ministry announced on Friday.

While in detention, Cheurfi had also shot and wounded a prison officer after seizing his gun. Eventually freed after serving most of his sentence, he was arrested again this year on suspicion of preparing an attack on police – but released for lack of evidence.

A French interior ministry spokesman confirmed on Friday that a manhunt was underway for a second individual, based on information from Belgian security services.

“It’s too early to say how or whether he was connected to what happened on the Champs Elysees,” ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said. “There are a certain number of leads to check. We are not ruling anything out.”

A potential second suspect was identified as Youssouf El Osri in a document seen by Reuters. Belgian security officials had warned French counterparts before the attack that El Osri was a “very dangerous individual en route to France” aboard the Thalys high-speed train.

The warning was circulated more widely among French security services in the hour following the Champs Elysees attack.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the Champs Elysees shooting hours after the attack, in a statement identifying the attacker as “Abu Yousif the Belgian.”

El Osri’s connection with either Cheurfi or the man named in Islamic State’s statement remained unclear on Friday.

Coming just days after police said they had foiled another planned Islamist attack, arresting two men in the southern city of Marseille, the Champs Elysees shooting dominated the final day of election campaigning.

Conservative candidate Francois Fillon and Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front, both talked up their tough law-and-order stances while centrist front-runner Emmanuel Macron stressed he was also up to the challenge.

(Additional reporting by John Irish, Gerard Bon and Yves Clarisse; Writing by Laurence Frost; Editing by Andrew Callus)