Venezuelans clash with police following disputed election results

Tear gas and rubber bullets were fired against the protesters demonstrating over Sunday's (Jul28) contested election results.

On Monday evening thousands of people gathered in central Caracas, some walking for miles from slums on the mountains surrounding the city, towards the presidential palace.

Notably, protests erupted in the Venezuelan capital the day after President Nicolás Maduro claimed he had won.

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The opposition has rejected Maduro's claim of victory as fraudulent, asserting that their candidate, Edmundo González, won decisively with 73.2% of the vote.

As the pre-election opinion polls had indicated a clear win for the challenger.

Opposition parties came together against González in an effort to unseat President Maduro, who has been in power for 11 years, amid widespread discontent over the country's economic crisis.

It may be mentioned here, several Western and Latin American countries, as well as international bodies including the UN, have called on the Venezuelan authorities to release voting records from individual polling stations.

A heavy military and police presence, including water cannons, filled the streets of Caracas with the aim of dispersing protesters and preventing them from approaching the presidential palace.

The crowds were chanting “Freedom, freedom!” and called for the government to fall.

The tyres burning on highways and large numbers of people on the streets, with police on motorbikes firing tear gas was the scene on the streets.

In some areas, posters of President Maduro were ripped down and burned while tyres, cars and rubbish have also been set alight.

Armed police, military and left-wing paramilitaries clashed with protesters and blocked off many roads around the city centre.

The Venezuelan attorney general warned that blocking roads or violating any laws related to disturbances during protests would be met with the full force of the law. Additionally, he stated that 32 people had been detained on charges ranging from destroying electoral materials to inciting acts of violence.

However, US senior administration officials said that the announced result "does not track with data that we've received through quick count mechanisms and other sources, which suggests that the result that was announced may be at odds with how people voted”.

That was “the principal source of our concern”, they added.

The Organization of American States (OAS) announced late on Monday that it will hold a meeting of its permanent council on Wednesday (Jul31) to discuss the Venezuelan election results.

(With inputs from agencies)