By DPA
Caracas : Thousands of university students marched through the streets of Caracas to demand the postponement of a referendum on constitutional reform, as some demonstrators threw stones and authorities used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the gathering.
The fire department in national capital Caracas said at least three people were injured.
The students, accompanied by opposition political parties and social organizations, marched some five km toward the seat of the National Electoral Council (CNE) Thursday, which tentatively plans to hold the referendum in early December.
“You cannot impose on the people a violation of their own freedoms, nor ignore human rights. A non-violent path has to prevail to stop this project,” student leader Yon Goicochea said.
The referendum has been slated for early December.
The demonstration had received permission to march up to one block away from the CNE, and a delegation of 15 students was allowed to go further and present electoral authorities with a petition.
CNE bosses received the delegation, but a group of students attempted to chain themselves to the internal stairs of the building, and the military prevented them from doing so. Later, the students refused to leave and threw stones at the officers, and the authorities dispersed them with tear gas and water cannons.
CNE director Vicente Diaz regretted the violence.
“I want to express my repudiation to the repression, to the aggression, and I will seek the way for this to be investigated,” he said.
“The march got to where it was supposed to get. There, there were several mistakes. One, that the soldiers of the National Guard attacked the students, and that the youngsters tried to chain themselves when they had already been received by the CNE,” Diaz added.
Last week, Venezuela’s National Assembly approved a proposal from President Hugo Chavez for “socialist” constitutional reform that would allow him unlimited re-election and full control of the central bank.
The controversial president said the constitutional reform – which citizens of the oil-rich country are yet to approve in a referendum – will install “21st century socialism” in Venezuela, and allow for a more effective fight against corruption.
Originally, Chavez wanted to modify 33 of the 350 articles in the Venezuelan Constitution, but Congress – controlled by Chavez supporters – added a further 36 modifications. The plan includes an enlargement of the presidential term – from six to seven years – and the end of central bank autonomy.
Chavez’s party or allied organisations hold 167 seats in the National Assembly, after the opposition chose to boycott legislative elections in 2005 in protest against the president. The opposition accuses Chavez of using a “dictatorial style” of government.
The president is currently ruling by decree, and over the past year he has nationalised large portions of the country’s energy industry.