Scattered concentrations in Maracay and surrounding areas

|| David Marcano Duarte || Photos David Marcano Duarte / Courtesy

On the second day of protests in Girardot and other municipalities of Aragua, several tense situations were recorded

Following protests that took place last Monday in various parts of the city of Maracay, Aragua state and other nearby towns, which resulted in at least five people dead and several injured, citizens continued to take to the streets for the second consecutive day.

As opposition leaders had planned, civil society began to gather at various points. Some of the gatherings were broken up by contingents of the Bolivarian National Guard using tear gas, as occurred on Sucre Avenue near the Calicanto housing development, where citizens were singing the national anthem and suddenly dispersed to avoid being affected by the tear gas.

A similar situation occurred in the El Toro roundabout, north of Maracay, where those present had to run and take shelter from the action of military and police forces who also dissuaded the gathering with tear gas.

After 4:00 pm, videos circulated of people running with flags in their hands in Samán de Güere, jurisdiction of the Mariño municipality. In one of the videos that circulated on social networks, a woman was seen wounded by buckshot.

In response to the allegations of having attacked those who were peacefully gathering at this point, the regional government assured El Periodiquito that the military had to act in response to the alleged attempt by those present to enter the PNB Command, a version that was rejected by some of those who experienced the tense situation.

Other demonstrations took place without any major obstacles, such as the one in El Torreón in El Limón, in the Mario Briceño Iragorry area, where a large group of citizens shouted “freedom!” and asked “where are the minutes?”

Similarly, in the municipalities of Mariño and Zamora there were numerous gatherings of people in rejection of the results issued by the CNE, after the electoral contest of July 28.

CLOSED SHOPS AND DESOLATE STREETS

The commercial areas of downtown and other areas of Maracay remained mostly deserted with the shutters down, given the almost non-existent circulation of public transport.

During a tour of the areas of the Maracay Central Terminal, the main gates were observed closed, with access only via the pedestrian path. The area where the ticket offices that sell bus tickets to other places in the country are located was also dark and closed.

Supermarkets and food stores registered a high presence of buyers, although some of these stores worked with the shutters half-open, others only with the main door open and the windows and the metal protection grilles closed.