Opposition lawmakers brawl with supposed government supporters who tried to forced their way into the National Assembly at the end of a ceremony commemorating the country's Independence Day in Caracas. Photo/AP
Opposition lawmakers brawl with supposed government supporters who tried to forced their way into the National Assembly at the end of a ceremony commemorating the country's Independence Day in Caracas. Photo/AP
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
Pipe-wielding government supporters burst into Venezuela's opposition-controlled congress on Wednesday, witnesses said, attacking lawmakers and journalists in the latest flare-up of violence during a political crisis.
Hours afterwards by late afternoon, a crowd of roughly 100 people was still besieging the building, trapping people inside, witnesses said.
Some of the those outside brandished pistols and some shouted they would cut water and power supplies, according to Daily Mail.
The crowd had gathered from early outside the National Assembly building in downtown Caracas, chanting in favor of President Nicolas Maduro.
Suddenly at late morning, several dozen people ran past the gates with pipes, sticks and stones and went on the attack.
They injured at least three opposition lawmakers who stumbled bloodied and dazed around the assembly's corridors, witnesses said. Some journalists also were robbed.
The worst-hurt lawmaker, Federico De Grazia, was hit on the head, fell unconscious, and was eventually taken by stretcher to an ambulance. His family later said he was out of critical condition and being stitched up.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores wave during a military parade on the day that dozens of pro-government activists stormed into the seat of Venezuela's National Assembly in Caracas. Photo/Getty Images
"This is Venezuela today," said Freddy Guevara, the assembly vice president and opposition leader. "Criminals attack the National Assembly, the armed forces are complicit in this madness, but the people and the lawmakers resist and advance."
Throughout the day, explosions apparently from fireworks were occasionally heard around the congress building.
Downtown Caracas is a traditional stronghold neighborhood for the government and there has been a string of melees there since the opposition thrashed the ruling Socialist Party in December 2015 parliamentary elections.
"We're kidnapped," said opposition lawmaker William Davila from inside congress where politicians where transmitting events live from their telephones.
In a speech during a military parade for Independence Day, Maduro condemned the "strange" violence in the assembly and asked for an investigation. But he also challenged the opposition to speak out about violence from within its ranks.
During three months of anti-government unrest in which at least 90 people have died, young demonstrators have frequently attacked security forces with stones, homemade mortars and Molotov cocktails, and burned property. They killed one man by dousing him in gasoline and setting him on fire.
"I want peace for Venezuela," Maduro said. "I don't accept violence from anyone."
Venezuelan Russian-made Mi-17 helicopters overfly a column of T-72B tanks during a military parade to celebrate Venezuela's 206th anniversary of independence. Photo/Getty Images
Mexico, Colombia and the United Kingdom repudiated today's events. "I condemn the grotesque attack on the Venezuelan assembly," tweeted UK ambassador John Saville.
Venezuela's opposition is demanding general elections to end socialist rule and solutions to the OPEC nation's brutal economic crisis. The government says its foes are seeking a violent coup with U.S. support.
Earlier, a Venezuelan police officer who staged a helicopter attack on government buildings in Caracas last week appeared in an internet video vowing to continue fighting.
"Once again we are in Caracas, ready and willing to continue our struggle for the liberation of our country," police pilot Oscar Perez said in the video, wearing a military uniform and wool cap, with a Venezuelan flag and rifle behind him.
Perez had not been seen since he hijacked a helicopter last week and flew through Caracas pulling a "Freedom" banner. He opened fire and dropped grenades on the Interior Ministry and Supreme Court but nobody was injured.
Maduro, 54, the successor to Hugo Chavez, called that attack a terrorist assault to overthrow him and lambasted Western nations for not condemning it.
But many government critics doubt the official version, and some even suggested it may have been staged to divert attention from the country's economic and political crises.
A masked man kicks at opposition lawmaker Franco Casella in a melee with supposed government supporters who tried to force their way into the National Assembly at the end of a ceremony commemorating the country's Independence Day. Photo/AP
In the video, Perez said the attack was 'perfectly achieved' with no collateral damage "because it was planned, because we are not murderers like you, Mr. Nicolas Maduro."
Perez said he had staged an emergency landing on the Caribbean coast following the attack, and returned to the capital after hiking through mountains. The Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Perez, who has portrayed himself as a James Bond-cum-Rambo figure on social media, also is an actor who starred in a 2015 movie about the rescue of a kidnapped businessman.
Although he has claimed wider support within the security forces, Perez's actions so far appear to be a rogue stunt organized by a small group of disaffected policemen.
Venezuela's opposition has been staging demonstrations against Maduro for three months, saying he has created a dictatorship and destroyed the country's economy.
They say Maduro is seeking to consolidate control through a Constituent Assembly, a superbody that will be elected at the end of July. The opposition has promised to boycott the vote, which it says is rigged in favor of the ruling Socialist Party.
"We are fully sure of what we are doing and if we must give up our lives, we will hand them over to the people," Perez said in the video. "If this constituent assembly takes place, there will be no Venezuela."
Opposition lawmaker Americo De Grazia is led away by bodyguards and a National Assembly employee after he was injured in a melee. Photo/AP
Before the attack on them, opposition lawmakers held a session denouncing the president as a "dictator" and approving a plebiscite that the opposition is organizing for July 16, asking Venezuelans what they think of Maduro's plans.
Today, military police guarding the National Assembly site stood by as about 100 intruders brandishing sticks and pipes broke through the front gate of the National Assembly and into the interior gardens. Bloodied victims were pictured after the attack and several people were wounded.
It was the latest eruption of political violence in three months of chaos in the oil-rich but poverty-stricken South American country.
The speaker of the assembly, Julio Borges, in a Twitter message named five lawmakers who were hurt in the violence. Some were taken away for medical treatment.
"This does not hurt as much as seeing every day how we are losing our country," one of them, Armando Armas, told reporters as he got into an ambulance with his head wrapped in bloody bandages.
Tension is high in Venezuela after three months of anti-government protests that have seen 91 people killed in clashes with police.
While today's violent protests burst into the National Assembly, the president was attending a military parade to celebrate the 206th anniversary of Independence in Caracas.
A supposed government supporter who was part of a group that tried to force its way into the National Assembly, is temporarily detained by national guardsmen, but was let go soon afterwards. Photo/AP
Protesters blame President Nicolas Maduro for a desperate economic crisis. But he says the chaos is the result of a US-backed capitalist conspiracy by the opposition.
"The government always resorts to violence," said opposition lawmaker Stalin Gonzalez after Wednesday's attack.
Another deputy, Simon Calzadilla, vowed: "We will continue to face up to these savages."
The opposition-controlled legislature was holding a special session to mark independence day when the government supporters burst in.
Earlier Maduro's vice-president Tareck El Aissami had made an impromptu appearance in the congress along with the head of the armed forces, Vladimir Padrino Lopez and ministers.
El Aissami made an address in which he called on supporters of Maduro to come to the legislature to show support for the president.
A crowd of Maduro supporters held a rally outside the building for several hours before breaking into the grounds during a recess.
Both the government and opposition have accused each other of using armed groups to sow violence.
Supporters of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro pictured as they storm the National Assembly building. Photo/Getty Images
The opposition has accused plainclothes armed pro-government groups of attacking protesters.
While the chaos erupted in the grounds of the assembly, Maduro was watching a military parade in another part of Caracas, with troops marching and armored vehicles rumbling by.
In a speech at the parade, he demanded that the military be "ever loyal, never traitors."
"Let no one become a Trojan horse," he said. "Let no one become a servant of the oligarchy."
Maduro retains the public backing of the military high command - a key factor in keeping him in power, according to analysts.
But the president last month said he was replacing four other senior commanders of the armed forces.
Maduro has infuriated his opponents by launching a plan to form an assembly to rewrite the constitution.
Opponents say he will pack the "constituent assembly" with allies to cling to power.
Voting for members of the assembly is scheduled for July 30.
"However, the political crisis is so fluid that the country could reach a tipping point before then," wrote analysts from the Eurasia Group consultancy last week in a note.
