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Security forces made use of plastic bullets, tear gas, and
water cannons against thousands of students that demonstrated on Thursday
against the latest constitutional reforms that President Hugo Chavez wants to
perform.
The students, accompanied by opposition political parties and
social organizations, marched some 5 kilometres toward the seat of the
National Electoral Council (CNE), which tentatively plans to hold the
referendum in early December.
"You cannot impose on the people a violation of their own freedoms,
nor ignore human rights. A non-violent path has to prevail to stop this
project," student leader Yon Goicochea said.
The fire department in Caracas said at least three people were injured.
The demonstration had received permission to march up to one block
away from the CNE, and a delegation of 15 students was allowed to go
further and present electoral authorities with a petition.
CNE bosses received the delegation, but a group of students
attempted to chain themselves to the internal stairs of the building,
and the military prevented them from doing so. Later, the students
refused to leave and threw stones at the officers, and the authorities
dispersed them with tear gas and water cannons.
CNE director Vicente Diaz regretted the violence.
"I want to express my repudiation to the repression, to the
aggression, and I will seek the way for this to be investigated," he
said.
"The march got to where it was supposed to get. There, there were
several mistakes. One, that the soldiers of the National Guard attacked
the students, and that the youngsters tried to chain themselves when
they had already been received by the CNE," Diaz added.
Jorge Rivas, an 18-year-old student who participated at the
demonstration said: "This is a dictatorship masked as democracy. Chavez
wants our country to be like Cuba,
and we're not going to allow that to occur," the Associated Press reports.
In addition, other amendments would allow the government to
have a good control over the Central Bank, while the authorities would have the
right to detain people without charge during a state of emergency.
Another participant at the demonstration, Luis Rodriguez, a
law student at the Universidad Central de Venezuela said: "We’re playing with
our country's future. All youth, all Venezuelans who believe in democracy, have
to stop this.''
The demonstrators protested for four hours in Caracas in front of the country
electoral council throwing rocks, bottles, and metal barricades.
The demonstrations continued at a university campus where
students and Chavez supporters were throwing rocks at each other. The students
also promised more demonstrations over the weekend.
Students are not the only ones who do not agree with these
adjustments to the constitution. Opposition parties, human rights groups, and
representatives of the Roman Catholic Church have serious doubts about them
saying that the civil rights are severely threatened.
The lawmakers will analyze the 69 amendments during a session
on Friday and if they are approved the people will give their final vote on
December 2.
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