Riot police and opposition activists clash in Caracas on April 10, 2017 after Venezuela’s political crisis intensified following the Supreme Court’s ruling that curbed the powers of the opposition-controlled legislature -AFP photo
CARACAS: A 19-year-old student died Tuesday after being shot during clashes between police and demonstrators protesting against Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, prosecutors said on Tuesday.
Daniel Queliz became the second person to die within a week in street protests called by opponents who want to remove Maduro from office in the crisis-hit nation.
Queliz died early on Tuesday in the northern city of Valencia, the state prosecution service said.
“He was wounded in the neck by a bullet” when police broke up a demonstration near a housing complex, the prosecutors said in a statement.
He was dead on arrival at hospital, it said.
It said 40 people will be charged for “acts of violence” in Tuesday’s unrest.
Maduro is fighting efforts to force him from power over an economic crisis marked by severe shortages and the world’s highest rate of inflation.
Monday saw the fifth day of clashes this month in the once-booming oil exporter.
Riot police in Caracas and other cities fired tear gas and water cannon at stone-throwing demonstrators, whose leaders vowed to keep up pressure on Maduro.
No major protests were announced for Tuesday but opposition leaders called for more mass rallies on April 19.
The opposition is demanding authorities set a date for postponed regional elections.
They are also furious at moves to limit the opposition’s legislative powers and to ban senior opposition leader Henrique Capriles from politics.
Another 19-year-old man, Jairo Ortiz, died on Thursday after being shot in the chest when police broke up a protest in Caracas. A policeman has been charged over that killing. -AFP