Hundreds of thousands protest against Venezuelan government, 5 killed

Clashes have broken out in Venezuela's capital, Caracas, as hundreds of thousands of people held rival protests amid rising tensions over a deepening political crisis in the oil-rich country.
Security forces on Wednesday fired tear gas as anti-government demonstrators staged what they dubbed the "mother of all marches" against President Nicolas Maduro, accusing him of eroding democracy and plunging the economy into chaos.
Crowds swelled to hundreds of thousands, including Maduro supporters who held a counter-demonstration at the urging of the president.
On the capital's northwest side, a student was shot in the head by motorcycle-riding gunmen who also threw tear gas canisters into a crowd of protesters, witnesses told the AFP news agency.
Local media later reported that the student, identified as Carlos Moreno, had died in a hospital. Witnesses and a family member told the Reuters news agency that Moreno, 18, was on his way to play football and did not plan to take part in the demonstration when government supporters approached an opposition gathering and fired shots.
Later, in the opposition hotbed of San Cristobal near the Colombia border, university student Paola Ramirez died after being shot by armed men on motorbikes as she was leaving the protest, relatives and witnesses told Reuters.
The public prosecutor's office said it was investigating both cases.

The march followed a fortnight of violent protests, in which five people have been killed, triggered by a Supreme Court decision in March to assume the powers of the opposition-led Congress.
That move was later reversed, but it had the added effect of energising Venezuela's fractious opposition, which had been struggling to channel growing anger against Maduro over widespread food shortages and triple-digit inflation.
The opposition is now pushing for Maduro's removal and the release of scores of political prisoners.

Source: Al Jazeera