Venezuela is engulfed in violent protests and there are injuries. Maduro blamed the opposition for starting the civil war

Following the announcement of Nicolás Maduro as the winner of the presidential election, large-scale and violent protests swept across Venezuela.

Thousands of opponents of the current head of state took to the streets of cities, including Caracas, disagreeing with the election results.

And hundreds of protesters tried to break through to the Argentine embassy in the capital of Venezuela.

We gathered and signaled

There, as MIA Rossiya Segodnya, a member of the delegation of Russian observers, State Duma deputy Alexey Volotskov, were some of the oppositionists.

The embassy building, by the way, is located next to the Russian embassy, ​​where the observers were staying.

More than one hundred protesters tried to break into the embassy, ​​because there were oppositionists there with whom they probably wanted to see,” Volotskov said.

According to him, people gathered there, honked, and tried to “pull” others along with them.

Protests

Protests broke out in the country after the official announcement of the victory of the current head of state, Nicolas Maduro, in the presidential election.

Unrest swept the capital and a number of other localities in Venezuela.

In the center of Caracas, police and national guard units were deployed to guard government buildings.

Also, citizens supporting the country’s authorities, armed with sticks and rebar, took to the streets to help the police.

Members of the city militia, called colectivos, which is something like an armed people’s militia, also came to the rescue.

Some locals consider this “people’s militia” to be poorly governed and say that its representatives have been involved in banditry.

Pans and shooting

Heaps of garbage and tires were burning on city streets, and in the center of Caracas they banged pots, thus expressing protest.

Eyewitnesses say that this roar was periodically “diluted” by the sounds of shooting.

The media write about clashes between protesters and law enforcement officers armed with gas grenades and rubber batons.

Molotov cocktails and stones were thrown at security forces. They responded with tear gas.

According to the Venezuelan Ministry of Defense, 23 soldiers were injured during the unrest, some of them with gunshot wounds.

Application Maduro

Nicolas Maduro, in a special address to the people, accused the opposition of starting a civil war in the country.

He announced his intention to hold a meeting of the State Council and the National Security Council on Tuesday, July 30.

All of Venezuela is invited. This is a sovereign dialogue, no one will dare to poke their nose into it. Enough is enough,” Maduro said.

And the head of the country’s National Assembly, Jorge Rodriguez, spoke about the attack on the election commission that is still ongoing by opposition hackers.

Reaction of other countries

The Russian Embassy recommends that compatriots in Venezuela do not go out on the streets and observe safety measures.

Argentina, Peru, Uruguay, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Panama demanded a transparent vote count from Caracas under the control of observers.

The Venezuelan authorities regarded this as interference in the elections and the people’s right to self-determination.

A little later, Caracas announced the recall of its diplomats from countries that did not recognize the election results.