Venezuela's jailed protest leader urged supporters on Friday to keep demonstrating peacefully against President Nicolas Maduro despite violence that has killed six people and rocked the OPEC member nation.
Six people have died, five from gunshots, and one run over by a vehicle, as the protests have degenerated into violence in Caracas and other cities around Venezuela, especially in the western Andean region.
The protesters, mainly students, accuse Maduro of worsening repression.
In the biggest challenge to Maduro's 10-month-old government, the protesters are demanding his resignation over Venezuela's rampant crime, inflation, shortages of basic products and alleged repression of opponents.
Henrique Capriles, another opposition leader, dismissed the claim that the protesters were planning to overthrow the government through force.
The nation of 29 million people is split down the middle between the "Chavistas," as Maduro's supporters are still known after their idol who died of cancer last year, and their opponents.
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