Teenager killed as Venezuelans march against the Government
A teenager has been shot dead as tens of thousands of opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro flooded the streets of Caracas in what has been dubbed the "mother of all marches" against the embattled socialist.
Carlos Romero, just three days away from celebrating his 18th birthday, was walking home from a football game when he bumped into pro-government militias stalking a small pocket of protesters, family friend Melvin Sojo said at the hospital where doctors tried in vain to save the boy's life.
Mr Sojo, who grew up in the Romero home, said police and two people who rushed his brother to the hospital told him the boy had been shot in the head by pro-government groups.
Official confirmation of Mr Sojo's account was not immediately available, and the county's energy minister said the boy was killed during an attempted assault.
He is the sixth person killed since protests began three weeks ago over the Supreme Court's decision to strip the opposition-controlled congress of its last remaining powers after a year-long power battle.
Energy minister Luis Motta Dominguez told lines of state workers preparing to join a large counter-march that the reports of the boy's death at the hands of pro-government groups were false, saying he had been killed during a botched assault, and that they would have to use all their political weaponry to combat the lies of Mr Maduro's "fascist" opponents.
"We're a peaceful people, but we're also armed," he said.
Tens of thousands of angry protesters converged from 26 different points spread across the capital to attempt to march to the Ombudsman's office.
Like half a dozen times previously, their progress was blocked by light-armoured vehicles and a curtain of tear gas and rubber bullets fired by riot police officers.
In some areas caravans of government supporters, some of them armed, circled menacingly on motorcycles.
The Supreme Court's decision was later reversed amid overwhelming international rebuke and even a rare instance of public dissent in the normally disciplined ruling elite.
But it had the added effect of energising Venezuela's fractious opposition, which had been struggling to channel growing disgust with Mr Maduro over widespread food shortages, triple-digit inflation and rampant crime.
With its momentum renewed, the opposition is now pushing for Mr Maduro's removal and the release of scores of political prisoners.
The government last year abruptly postponed regional elections the opposition was heavily favoured to win and cut off a petition drive to force a referendum seeking Mr Maduro's removal before elections late next year.
