Tag Archives: opposition

Turkish PM urges opposition head to call off 20-day protest march

Supporters of Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) join party's leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu during the second day of a protest, dubbed a "justice march", against the detention of the CHP lawmaker Enis Berberoglu, in the outskirts of Ankara, Turkey June 16, 2017. REUTERS/Osman Orsal

By Daren Butler and Tuvan Gumrukcu

ISTANBUL/ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey’s prime minister urged the head of the main opposition party on Friday to end a 425 kilometer (265 mile) march from Ankara to Istanbul in protest over the jailing of one of his lawmakers, saying justice “cannot be sought on the streets”.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, 68, head of the secularist Republican People’s Party (CHP), set out on the march on Thursday after Enis Berberoglu was jailed for 25 years on spying charges. He was seen off by thousands of supporters and has garnered much attention in a country where government dominates the media.

Kilicdaroglu trudged along a highway outside Ankara on Friday dressed in dark slacks and blue shirt. Sunburned and wearing a cap, he carried a sign that said “Justice”.

Rights groups and government critics, including members of Kilicdaroglu’s CHP, say Turkey is sliding toward authoritarianism, citing a crackdown that followed last year’s failed coup that has seen more than 50,000 people jailed and 150,000 sacked or suspended from their jobs.

“I advise Kilicdaroglu to desist from this act,” Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters. “Justice cannot be sought on the streets, Turkey is a state of law… Even if we don’t like a court’s ruling, we have to respect it.”

Berberoglu was accused of giving the Cumhuriyet newspaper a video it used as the basis of a May 2015 report that alleged trucks owned by the state intelligence service (MIT)were stopped and found to contain arms and ammunition headed for Syria.

Berberoglu is the first CHP lawmaker to be jailed in the government crackdown, which has seen eleven members of parliament from the pro-Kurdish opposition party jailed.

Kilicdaroglu has called the arrest “lawless” and motivated by the presidential palace, a reference to President Tayyip Erdogan. His march, planned to end at the Istanbul prison where Berberoglu is being held, is expected to take more than 20 days.

‘DEMOCRACY’

“We have been, and will be, calling and defending justice, justice, justice, and democracy, democracy, democracy,” he told reporters during his march. “No matter what they say.”

Turkey’s justice minister said Kilicdaroglu was trying to foment opposition to the judicial system.

“It is not possible to break the balance of the scales of justice by walking on roads,” Bekir Bozdag said.

Erdogan acknowledged the trucks belonged to the MIT but said they carried aid to ethnic Turkmens battling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Islamic State, and not weapons for rebels.

Erdogan accused Cumhuriyet’s editor-in-chief Can Dundar and Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gul of undermining Turkey’s reputation and vowed Dundar would “pay a heavy price”.

Last year, Dundar and Gul were sentenced to at least five years jail in a related case. The prosecutor is now seeking another 10 years for the two over the report on the trucks. Dundar is being tried in absentia after leaving Turkey. Gul remains in the country and free while his case is in process.

(Writing by David Dolan; editing by Ralph Boulton)

Venezuela opposition accuses security forces of robbing protesters

Venezuelan National Guard members take position while clashing with demonstrators rallying against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela June 6, 2017. REUTERS/Marco Bello

By Eyanir Chinea

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan opposition leaders on Tuesday accused security forces of assaulting and robbing demonstrators who participate in protests against President Nicolas Maduro.

Two videos distributed over social networks appear to show police and troops taking protesters’ possessions during rallies on Monday, spurring outrage among many Venezuelans who already complain of excessive use of force during the two months of protests.

Opposition legislators on Tuesday filed a complaint with the state prosecutors’ office against the police and the National Guard in relation to the alleged robberies.

Reuters could not independently verify the content of the videos. The Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“(Interior Minister) Nestor Reverol gives them license to steal,” said legislator Juan Matheus, adding that the complaint includes accusations of cruel and inhumane treatment.

One video shows four police officers surrounding a woman who is reeling from the effects of tear gas, with one of the officers pulling what appears to be a watch from her wrist.

In another, troops take a protester’s helmet and handbag before boarding motorcycles.

The government says it is fighting opposition “terrorist cells” trying to overthrow Maduro.

They say the effort is similar to a 2002 coup that briefly ousted late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, noting that protesters routinely disrupt traffic and damage public property while mounting barricades of burning debris.

Legislators said during Tuesday’s congressional session that they had registered 16 attacks against journalists on Monday alone, with some 300 during the two months of protest. Ruling Socialist Party legislators did not attend the congressional session.

Francisco Zambrano, a journalist with website Runrun.es which is critical of the government, said in a telephone interview that troops had blocked his way when he attempted to run from a cloud of tear gas fired to disperse demonstrators.

“I identified myself as a journalist, but they still opened my bag, threw my things to the ground and searched my pockets,” said Zambrano. “I thought it was a regular procedure until they took out my cell phone and one of them kept it.”

Information Minister Ernesto Villegas, asked on Monday about an incident involving troops throwing a television camera off a highway, said the National Guard as an institution was being unfairly held responsible for actions by individuals.

“I know and have worked with men and women of the National Guard, who are honorable and are out there risking their lives. They have also been the victim of aggression,” he said during a televised interview.

The protests have left some 65 people dead and thousands injured.

The government is preparing an election at the end of July for a constituent assembly that will have the power to rewrite the constitution and potential dissolve state institutions.

Maduro’s critics call it a power grab meant to keep him power indefinitely.

(Additional reporting by Andreina Aponte, Corina Pons and Deisy Buitrago; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Turkish authorities briefly detain spokesman for pro-Kurdish opposition: lawmaker

FILE PHOTO: Osman Baydemir, spokesman for the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), addresses members of parliament from his party during a meeting at the Turkish parliament in Ankara, Turkey April 18, 2017. Picture taken April 18, 2017. REUTERS/Umit Bektas/File Photo

ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish authorities briefly detained the spokesman of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) for insulting police on Friday, a party lawmaker said, the latest detention of a high-profile politician from the pro-Kurdish opposition.

Osman Baydemir was released after a brief detention and testimony at the local prosecutor’s office, fellow lawmaker Meral Danis Bestas said.

Baydemir, 46, was elected to the Turkish parliament in 2014. In addition to representing the southeastern province of Sanliurfa, he also serves as the HDP’s national spokesman.

More than a dozen HDP lawmakers have been jailed, mostly due to alleged links with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged an insurgency against Turkey for more than three decades. The HDP denies direct ties to the PKK, which is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, Turkey and the European Union.

The party’s co-leaders, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, have also been jailed, which handicapped its campaign against the April referendum to change the constitution and grant President Tayyip Erodgan sweeping new powers. Turks narrowly backed the constitutional change on April 16.

The HDP says as many as 5,000 of its members have been detained as part of a crackdown that followed last year’s failed coup, and which rights groups say targets dissent.

Prosecutors want Demirtas jailed for 142 years and Yuksekdag for up to 83 years on charges of terrorist group propaganda. Demirtas was sentenced in February for “insulting the Turkish people, the government and state institutions”.

A ceasefire between the Turkish state and the PKK broke down in July 2015 and the southeast subsequently saw some of the worst violence since the PKK launched its insurgency in 1984.

(Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Editing by David Dolan and Stephen Powell)

Venezuela opposition leaders wounded in anti-government march

Riot security forces release jets of water from their water cannon on demonstrators during riots at a march to the state Ombudsman's office in Caracas, Venezuela May 29, 2017. The banner reads "The favorite Ron". REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

CARACAS (Reuters) – Two Venezuelan opposition leaders were wounded on Monday by security forces dispersing protests in the capital Caracas against President Nicolas Maduro, according to one of the leaders and an opposition legislator.

Maduro’s adversaries have for two months been blocking highways and setting up barricades in protests demanding he call early elections and address an increasingly severe economic crisis that has left millions struggling to get enough to eat.

Fifty-nine people have died in the often violent street melees, which Maduro calls an effort to overthrow his government.

“We were ambushed,” said two-time presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, who accompanied protesters in an effort to march to the headquarter of the government ombudsman’s office but was blocked by security forces.

“This government is capable of killing or burning anything,” Capriles said in a press conference.

He said 16 others were injured in the march, adding that he would file a complaint about the issue with state prosecutors.

Legislator Jose Olivares, who is a doctor, tweeted a picture of a bruise on Capriles’ face that he said was the result of a soldier hitting him with a helmet during the clashes.

During the same march, opposition deputy Carlos Paparoni was knocked to the ground by a water cannon sprayed from a truck, requiring that he receive stitches in his head, Olivares said.

The Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Corina Pons, writing by Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Andrew Hay)

Hush money scandal jeopardizes Brazil’s feeble recovery

Demonstrators shout slogans during a protest against Brazil's President Michel Temer in Sao Paulo, Brazil, May 18, 2017. The sign reads "Out Temer and Elections now!." REUTERS/Nacho Doce

By Alonso Soto

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Hopes Latin America’s largest economy could emerge from its worst-ever recession this year were plunged into doubt on Thursday after President Michel Temer was shaken by allegations he condoned bribing a potential witness.

Fears the scandal could force Temer to step down or derail his ambitious reform agenda drove the biggest daily drop in the Brazilian real since 1999, while the benchmark Bovespa stock index closed 9 percent lower.

Government officials, lawmakers and economists told Reuters the crisis surrounding Temer, 76, could slow the pace of interest rate cuts and diminish consumer and business confidence enough to extend the recession into a third year.

Central Bank data this week suggested Brazil’s economy finally grew in the first three months of the year after eight consecutive quarters of contraction. A second month of job growth in April also fueled hopes of a recovery.

“The government went from its best moment to its worst moment in a matter of seconds,” said a Temer aide, who asked for anonymity to speak freely. “Even the opposition was betting on the approval of the reforms. Now we need to reestablish normalcy.”

Since he took office following the impeachment of leftist President Dilma Rousseff a year ago, Temer has regained investors’ confidence with measures to stop hemorrhaging in public finances. The government recorded a budget deficit of more than 10 percent of gross domestic product last year.

In a defiant address to the nation, Temer insisted that he would not resign and his ministers tried to ease market alarm by promising to push ahead with reforms.

Still, the specter of renewed political uncertainty raised doubts about the recovery and senior politicians said they could not press on with reforms in the midst of calls for Temer to step down.

Senator Ricardo Ferraço, a Temer ally in charge of drafting the government’s labor reform, said he had halted his work until the political crisis was resolved.

The lawmaker sponsoring the government’s flagship pension reform, Arthur Maia, also said there was no room to advance on the legislation in the midst of the turmoil created by the allegations against Temer.

“This certainly makes approval of the reforms more difficult,” Senator Valdir Raupp, a close ally to Temer, told Reuters. “Halting legislative work is the worst path to take. We have to see how things evolve in coming days.”

CAUTIOUS CENTRAL BANK

Government officials also said they worry the crisis could hamper investors’ interest in multi-million dollars auctions of oil rights, hydroelectric plants and infrastructure projects later this year. Temer was betting on those investments to add momentum to the recovery

Risks that labor and pension reforms could stall will likely prompt the central bank to slow the pace of interest rate cuts, limiting a source of relief for businesses battered by the recession, economists said.

The sharp depreciation of Brazil’s real could raise inflation expectations and cut short the easing cycle, economists said. The real closed down nearly 8 percent at 3.38 per US dollar.

“Although there is still room to cut rates, the central bank will be more cautious on the pace of easing,” said Alessandra Ribeiro, partner with consultancy Tendencias.

“The scandal compromises the recovery, which could be much weaker than originally expected or even fizzle away.”

Earlier this week, many market economists expected a more aggressive 125-basis-point rate cut at the bank’s next meeting on May 31. Investment banks expected the bank’s benchmark Selic rate to drop below 8 percent this year.

A surge in Brazilian interest rate futures shows traders are scaling back their bets for steeper rate cuts.

For Jose Carlos Martins, head of construction industry group CBIC, political paralysis would further undermine an economy struggling with more than 14 million unemployed.

“The chaos in the markets should serve as a warning for Congress to continue with the reforms,” Martins said. “Paralysis will send a terrible message to everyone.”

(Reporting by Alonso Soto; Editing by Andrew Hay)

Turkey targets opposition newspaper over suspected coup links

A man looks at newspapers at a kiosk in Diyarbakir, Turkey November 2, 2015. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov

By Humeyra Pamuk

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish authorities have issued arrest warrants for the owner and three employees of an opposition newspaper, a police source and the paper said on Friday, part of a continuing media crackdown that has alarmed rights groups and Turkey’s Western allies.

The four are accused of committing crimes on behalf of the network of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, they said. Gulen is blamed by Ankara for masterminding last July’s failed coup against President Tayyip Erdogan, a charge he denies.

Turkish police carried out searches at the homes of the owner and the three employees of Sozcu newspaper, which is fiercely critical of Erdogan and his ruling AK Party, and also detained the paper’s internet editor, the police source said.

The paper’s owner is currently abroad, he added.

The state-run Anadolu news agency said the charges against the four suspects included planning “the assassination of the President and physical assault” and “armed rebellion against the government of the Turkish Republic”.

Metin Yilmaz, editor-in-chief of the secularist, nationalist Sozcu, confirmed the police raids but denied the accusations, saying his paper had long criticized Gulen and his supporters.

“The only thing we do is journalism. But doing that in this country is a crime in itself,” he said in a statement published on the paper’s web site. “Writing the truth, criticizing and doing stories are all crimes.”

The investigation drew sharp criticism from Turkey’s main opposition party CHP. Its leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, said the probe was “unacceptable”, while senior CHP lawmaker Ozgur Ozel said it aimed to silence all dissent.

JAILING JOURNALISTS

Since the failed coup, Turkish authorities have shut more than 130 media outlets and a press union says more than 150 journalists have been jailed, raising concerns about media freedom in a country that aspires to join the European Union.

The arrest warrants for Sozcu came days after a court jailed the online editor of another opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet, pending trial, on a charge of spreading terrorist propaganda.

Around a dozen journalists from the paper, long a pillar of Turkey’s old secularist establishment, are already in jail facing sentences of up to 43 years in prison, accused of supporting Gulen’s network.

Turkey has also suspended or dismissed more than 150,000 judges, teachers, police and civil servants and has arrested nearly 50,000 others suspected of links to the Gulen movement.

Turkish officials say the crackdown is necessary because the Gulen movement had set up a “state within a state” that threatened national security. They point to the gravity of last July’s coup, when rogue troops commandeered warplanes to bomb parliament and used tanks to kill 240 people.

But Erdogan’s critics in Turkey and abroad say he is using the coup to purge opponents and muzzle dissent. Last month he narrowly won a referendum that grants him sweeping new powers.

(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Gareth Jones)

Venezuelan opposition activists march to Leopoldo Lopez’ jail

Opposition supporters attend a rally in support of political prisoners and against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in Los Teques, Venezuela April 28, 2017. REUTERS/Marco Bello

By Girish Gupta

LOS TEQUES, Venezuela (Reuters) – Hundreds of activists marched on Friday to the hilltop jail of Venezuela’s best-known detained opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez in the latest of a month of protests against the socialist government.

Security forces blocked access to the decrepit-looking penitentiary next to a slum in Los Teques, an hour’s drive from the capital Caracas, as the demonstrators shouted “Leopoldo!” and held signs reading “No To Dictatorship!”

This month’s wave of protests against President Nicolas Maduro’s government has led to at least 29 deaths in the worst unrest since 2014 rallies championed by Lopez, who was arrested then and convicted of instigating violence.

Venezuela’s opposition is demanding elections, autonomy for the legislature where they have a majority, a humanitarian aid channel from abroad to alleviate an economic crisis, and freedom for more than 100 jailed anti-Maduro activists.

Supporters say Lopez, the U.S.-educated leader of hardline Popular Will party, and others are political prisoners who symbolize Maduro’s lurch into dictatorship.

Maduro says all are behind bars for legitimate crimes, and calls Lopez, 45, a violent hothead intent on promoting a coup.

“This shows yet again the fear Nicolas Maduro has of people in the street,” said Popular Will legislator Juan Mejia at the National Guard barriers outside Ramo Verde jail.

Some inhabitants of a nearby slum came out of their homes to cheer as the protesters marched by.

“We would never have marched here before because it was very dangerous and pro-Chavista,” said demonstrator and marketing consultant Kailee Shima, 36, referring to the ruling “Chavista” movement named for Maduro’s predecessor Hugo Chavez.

Elsewhere, relatives of imprisoned activists and supporters turned up at other jails, including the Caracas headquarters of the state intelligence service Sebin.

“We are opposite one of the dictatorship’s iconic prisons where they keep dozens of political prisoners, opposite the biggest torture center in the land,” said another opposition lawmaker Gaby Arellano.

Government officials accuse the opposition of inventing torture stories to sway international opinion against the Maduro government and create the conditions for a foreign intervention of the South American oil producer.

The opposition coalition, which now enjoys majority support after long being in the shadow of “Chavismo” especially during the 14-year rule of Chavez himself, is trying to keep the pressure on Maduro with daily protests.

(Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Toni Reinhold)

Turkish opposition lawmaker appeals to European court over referendum

Supporters of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan wave national flags as they wait for his arrival at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, April 17, 2017. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

ANKARA (Reuters) – A lawmaker from Turkey’s main opposition CHP said on Friday he had submitted an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights demanding the annulment of a referendum that granted President Tayyip Erdogan sweeping executive powers.

Musa Cam, a lawmaker for the Republican People’s Party (CHP)from the coastal city of Izmir, told Reuters he submitted an individual appeal independently from the one the party is expected to make to the European Court.

In his application, seen by Reuters, Cam said the decision by Turkey’s High Electoral Board (YSK) to allow unstamped ballots in the referendum had caused the outcome to be “illegitimate and not representative of the people’s will”.

Final results released by the YSK on Thursday showed 51.4 percent support for the “Yes” vote to approve the biggest changes to Turkey’s political system in its modern history.

The results, which matched the preliminary figures released in the hours after polling closed on April 16, were released despite calls by the CHP to delay a final announcement while they appealed the vote. The YSK and a Turkish court, the council of state, have rejected or declined to hear the CHP appeals.

Erdogan and the “Yes” camp have said appeals were an attempt to undermine the results of the vote, adding only the YSK had jurisdiction on the matter.

The package of 18 amendments passed in the referendum gives the president the authority to draft the budget, declare a state of emergency and issue decrees overseeing ministries without parliamentary approval.

With the changes, Erdogan will also immediately be eligible to resume membership of a political party.

Erdogan told Reuters on Tuesday that he would rejoin Turkey’s ruling AK Party once the full results came out, and a senior official said he would be named as a candidate to lead it at an extraordinary congress on May 21.

(This version of the article corrects surname of lawmaker)

(Reporting by Gulsen Solaker and Tuvan Gumrukcu)

Seeking to keep up pressure, Venezuela opposition plans more protests

Damage is seen at the entrance of a bakery after it was looted in Caracas, Venezuela April 20, 2017. REUTERS/Christian Veron

By Brian Ellsworth and Diego Oré

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s opposition renewed nationwide protests on Thursday to pressure President Nicolas Maduro to hold elections and improve a collapsing economy, and vowed to keep up pressure by staging three more protests in the next four days.

Thursday’s crowds were smaller than the hundreds of thousands of people who flooded the streets of Caracas and provincial cities on Wednesday, the latest and largest in several weeks of protests against what Maduro’s opponents condemn as a lurch toward dictatorship.

But still, thousands of people waving Venezuelan flags and shouting “No more dictatorship” took to the streets in the capital and across the oil-rich nation.

The opposition’s leadership then called for further protests in communities across Venezuela on Friday, a white-clad “silent” march in Caracas on Saturday to commemorate the eight people killed during unrest this month, and a nationwide “sit-in” blocking Venezuela’s main roads on Monday.

That sets the stage for prolonged disruption in volatile Venezuela, where security forces have been blocking rallies this month and protests have dissolved into clashes with rock-throwing youth.

“Today the people of Venezuela showed they are committed to this cause,” said opposition lawmaker Freddy Guevara during a news conference late on Thursday, urging people to stay on the streets.

Government officials dismiss the protests, characterized by street barricades and clashes with security forces, as violent and lawless efforts to overthrow Maduro’s leftist government with the backing of ideological adversaries in Washington.

The opposition counters that Maduro, deeply unpopular as Venezuelans grapple with triple-digit inflation and shortages of food and basic consumer goods, is seeking to stay in power indefinitely by barring opposition leaders from office and quashing independent state institutions.

“Protests will need to grow and persist over the coming weeks to force a political transition,” Eurasia analyst Risa Grais-Targow said in a note on Thursday.

“The opposition’s response to regional elections, which the National Electoral Council will probably call in the coming days, will be key to maintaining momentum in the streets.”

The current wave of marches, the most sustained protests against Maduro since 2014, has sparked regular melees. There were also late-night barricades and some looting in Caracas’ middle-class neighborhood of El Paraiso on Wednesday night.

Two students and a National Guard sergeant were killed in Wednesday’s demonstrations, bringing the death toll in demonstrations this month to eight. Rights group Penal Forum said more than 500 people were arrested in relation to Wednesday’s protest and 334 remained in detention.

CAPRILES IN THE EYE OF THE STORM

The renewed wave of protests was sparked by a Supreme Court move in March to assume the powers of the opposition-led Congress, a move that it largely reversed a few days later. They were further fueled when the government barred the opposition’s best-known leader, two-time presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, from holding public office.

Maduro on Thursday night said Capriles wrongly accused authorities of killing university student Paolo Ramirez in the restive Tachira state near Colombia on Wednesday. Her boyfriend and mother have both said she was shot down by government supporters chasing her on motorbikes after a protest.

“Immediately the global media and those irresponsible people, including that trash called Capriles, came out to accuse the government, the revolution, the army, the National Guard,” Maduro said, wearing a white doctor’s gown during a televised address meant to showcase Venezuela’s health system, which is in fact crumbling.

“I’ve authorized a lawsuit, a complaint for the honor of these people who have been accused. If he has to go to jail, he should go and pay for this defamation, this slander, all the crimes he’s committed,” added Maduro.

Capriles responded on Twitter that Maduro, “like all dictators,” is a compulsive liar, and called on Venezuelans to keep up protests.

That push increasingly mirrors protests in 2014 in which Maduro’s critics barricaded streets and battled police for close to three months. That effort ultimately faded amid protester fatigue and a heavy state crackdown.

But the sharp deterioration of the economy, which has put many foods and medicines out of the reach of the average citizen, and a more organized and united opposition coalition have injected fresh energy into the current protests.

“This is the moment,” said Raquel Belfort, a 42-year-old protester in wealthier eastern Caracas on Thursday, sporting a hat in the yellow, blue and red colors of the Venezuelan flag.

“People are sick of this…. we’ve touched rock bottom. I think if we take to the streets every day we’ll end this government.”

Maduro critics increasingly doubt that the ruling Socialist Party, which was soundly defeated in 2015 legislative elections, will allow for free and fair elections. The ballot for state governors has been delayed since last year and elections authorities have not announced when it will be held.

(Additional reporting by Eyanir Chinea, Andreina Aponte, Alexandra Ulmer, Girish Gupta, and Christian Veron in Caracas, Maria Ramirez in Puerto Ordaz, Anggy Polanco in San Cristobal, and Mircely Guanipa in Punto Fijo; Writing by Alexandra Ulmer and Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Frances Kerry and Lisa Shumaker)

Venezuela opposition plans nationwide protests to strain security forces

Demonstrators rally against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro carrying a sign that reads "No more dictatorship" in Caracas, Venezuela, April 13, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

By Alexandra Ulmer

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s opposition was planning protests in each of the country’s 335 municipalities on Thursday, in a bid to strain the capabilities of security forces as unrest mounted in the volatile nation.

The oil-rich but crisis-shaken South American country has been convulsed by escalating protests over the last two weeks amid a punishing economic recession and accusations that leftist President Nicolas Maduro has morphed into a dictator.

In a worrying sign for Maduro, people in usually pro-government slums and low-income areas have blocked streets and lit fires during scattered protests this week. A crowd also broke through a security cordon at his rally on Tuesday, heckling at him and throwing stones while bodyguards scrambled.

Four people were killed during protests over the last week, authorities say. Opposition lawmaker Alfonso Marquina said on Thursday a fifth protester had died.

With momentum on their side, the main opposition coalition was urging Venezuelans to take to the streets across the country on Thursday in an effort to leave security forces too thinly spread to break up rallies.

They accuse police and the National Guard of indiscriminate use of tear gas, including gassing clinics and dropping canisters from a helicopter, and of arbitrarily detaining people for simply being within the vicinity of protests.

“This is a struggle of resistance, whose fundamental objective is to wear them out, and see who breaks first,” said opposition lawmaker Freddy Guevara in a video posted on Twitter.

“Will it be our desire to fight or theirs to repress? Will it be our desire to have a better Venezuela or theirs to obey the dictatorship?”

The opposition says Maduro made it clear to the world he was a dictator when the Supreme Court in late March assumed the functions of the opposition-led congress.

Amid global outcry, the court quickly rolled back the most controversial part of its decision, but the move breathed new life into the fractured opposition movement and comforted demonstrators that they had international support.

Last week’s move to ban opposition leader Henrique Capriles from holding office for 15 years also fueled demonstrators’ outrage. Capriles is seen as the opposition’s best presidential hope.

UNREST

Alongside planned opposition marches that have dissolved into clashes, there have also been what witnesses and local media describe as impromptu nighttime protests, where neighbors block streets with trash or burning debris.

Looting has been reported too, especially in the working class community of Guarenas outside Caracas.

While opposition leaders have called for protests to remain peaceful, Maduro’s government has claimed that a business-backed opposition is actually pushing for violence to justify “foreign intervention.”

Maduro has drawn parallels with a brief coup against his predecessor – the late Hugo Chavez – in 2002, and warned that an opposition government would slash social benefits like health care for the poor and subsidized food.

The opposition has responded that any social advances made under Chavez have been wiped out by a devastating economic crisis that has brought widespread shortages of food and medicine.

Some in the opposition accuse “colectivos,” militant grassroots groups whom critics say are thugs paid by the government, of looting and violence to taint the opposition.

Many Venezuelans still worry protracted protests will not bring about political or economic change, but will just increase violence in the already volatile nation.

Major anti-government protests in 2014 eventually fizzled out, though the opposition at the time had nebulous demands, poor neighborhoods largely abstained, and the economy was in better shape.

Venezuelans are gearing up for next Wednesday, when opposition leaders have called for the “mother of all marches.”

(Writing by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Bernadette Baum)