The protesters demand that the referendum be suspended, saying the amendments would weaken civil liberties in Venezuela and give Chavez unprecedented power to declare states of emergency.
Gunmen opened fire on students returning from a march Wednesday in which 80,000 people denounced President Hugo Chavez’s attempts to expand his power. Shots were fired during clashes at Venezuela’s Central University in Caracas, and at least eight people were injured, including one by gunfire, officials said. National guard troops stood outside the campus. Venezuelan law bars state security forces from entering the campus. At left, a supporter of Chavez points a pistol toward two opponents of Chavez during clashes at Venezuela’s Central University
GUNMEN opened fire yesterday on students returning from an 80,000-strong march in which they denounced attempts by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to expand his power.
Several people were taken to hospital for surgery after suffering gunshot wounds.
At least four gunmen – their faces covered by ski masks or T-shirts – fired handguns at the anti-Chavez crowd.
National Guard troops gathered outside the Central University of Venezuela, a centre for opposition to Mr Chavez’s Government.
Venezuelan law bars state security forces from entering the campus, but Higher Education Minister Luis Acuna said they could be called in if the university requested them.
The director of Venezuela’s Civil Defence Agency, Antonio Rivero, said at least eight people had been injured but no one had been killed.
Earlier, Mr Rivero said he had been told one person had died in the violence.
The violence broke out after anti-Chavez demonstrators, led by university students, marched peacefully to the Supreme Court to protest against constitutional changes Venezuelans will consider in a December referendum.
Television later broadcast a video of armed men on motorcycles arriving at the university, where they entered the same building in which several of the gunmen were located.
The pistol-toting men stood at the doorway – one of them firing a handgun in the air – as people fled the building.
Justice Minister Pedro Carreno blamed students, university authorities, opposition parties and the media for the violence.
“We want to urge the media toreflect, to stop broadcasting biased news through media manipulation, filling a part of the population with hate,” Mr Carreno said during a nationally televised address.
He did not provide details regarding the number of injured or indicate if any suspects had been arrested, saying only that angry students surrounding the building had wanted to lynch those inside.
The amendments that sparked the protest would abolish presidential term limits, give Mr Chavez control over the Central Bank and let him create new provinces governed by chosen officials.
The protesters demand that the referendum be suspended, saying the amendments would weaken civil liberties in Venezuela, one of South America’s oldest democracies, and give Mr Chavez unprecedented power to declare states of emergency.
Mr Chavez, first elected in 1998, denies the proposed changes would threaten freedom.
He says they would instead move Venezuela towards what he calls “21st-century socialism”.
The Supreme Court is unlikely to act on the students’ demands, given that pro-Chavez politicians appointed all 32 of its judges.
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