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Opposition’s anti-Maduro strike paralyses swathes of Venezuela

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CARACAS: Many Venezuelan streets were barricaded and deserted on Thursday for a strike called by foes of President Nicolas Maduro to demand a presidential election and the abandonment of a plan for a new congress they fear would institute dictatorship.


From the Andes to the Amazon, many businesses shut as the majority-backed opposition staged a 24-hour shutdown from dawn in a civil disobedience campaign it is dubbing “zero hour” to try to end nearly two decades of Socialist Party rule


Many private transport groups heeded the strike call, while students, neighbours and activists hauled rubbish and furniture into streets to form barriers.


In some places, however, such as the poor Catia and January 23rd neighbourhoods of Caracas, streets and shops were still buzzing.


In scattered clashes, security forces fired tear gas at protesters manning barricades. Youths shot fireworks.


Four months of anti-government unrest have killed about 100 people, injured thousands, left hundreds in jail and further damaged an economy in its fourth year of a debilitating decline.


Clashes have occurred daily since the opposition Democratic Unity coalition and a self-styled youth-led “Resistance” movement took to the streets in April. In the latest death, a man confronting protesters was burnt to death this week in the northern coastal town of Lecheria, media and authorities said.


Leaders of Venezuela’s 2.8 million public employees said state businesses and ministries remained open on Thursday.


“I’m on strike ‘in my heart’ because if we don’t turn up, they will fire us,” said a 51-year-old engineer at state steel plant Sidor in southern Bolivar state, waiting at dawn for transport provided by her company.


Some Venezuelans grumbled the opposition action would cost them money and prevent them seeking food at a time of extreme economic crisis and hardship in the Opec nation.


— Reuters


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