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AFP
Caracas
Riot police in Venezuela fired tear gas and water cannon to stop anti-government protesters from marching on a key military installation Friday during the latest violence in nearly two months of unrest.
The opposition is trying to sway the support of the armed forces, a key pillar of the government of socialist President Nicolas Maduro, who is resisting opposition calls for early elections.
Retired military personnel joined demonstrators who tried to march to the Los Proceres complex, which houses the defense ministry and lies close to a major military base in Caracas.
Friday's protest was aimed at"demanding that the armed forces lower their weapons and not be complicit in the dictatorship," said Freddy Guevara, an opposition leader who is vice president of parliament, the only branch of government the opposition controls.
He called on the military to reject a"constituent assembly" to be elected in July and tasked with drafting a new constitution, saying Maduro's plans"will liquidate Venezuelan democracy forever."
