Police have fired tear gas at protesters in Venezuela after mass protests broke out when the government claimed to have won the nation’s presidential election.
Protesters took to the streets after President Nicolas Maduro was declared winner of the disputed poll, including near the presidential Miraflores palace in Caracas.
Venezuela's opposition said it had voting-tally proof it had won the election claimed by President Nicolas Maduro, while Downing Street said it did not recognise the “Maduro regime” following the vote.
Many Venezuelans staged "cacerolazo" demonstrations across the country - a traditional Latin American protest in which people bang pots and pans. Some who later marched took their pots and pans with them.
"I don’t want gold, I don’t want CLAP (the government food aid programme), I want Nicolas (Maduro) to leave," chanted protesters banging pots.
Protesters rode motorbikes and jammed streets or draped themselves in the Venezuelan flag, while others covered their faces with scarves as protection against tear gas.
In Caracas, heavily armed police sent protesters running when they fired tear gas to disperse a crowd, while other police erected barriers with long shields and batons.
In Coro, the capital of Falcon state, protesters cheered and danced when they tore down a statue depicting late president Hugo Chavez, Maduro's mentor.
The Venezuelan Conflict Observatory said it had registered 187 protests in 20 states as of 6pm
"I’ll fight for my country’s democracy. They stole the election from us," an unidentified protester told Reuters. "We need to keep on fighting for the youth."
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Meanwhile Maduro, in a live broadcast from the presidential palace, said his forces were acting against what he called violent protesters.
The armed forces have long supported Maduro and there were no signs leaders were breaking from the government.
"We have been following all of the acts of violence promoted by the extreme right. I can tell the people of Venezuela that if they have done harm, we are acting," he said.
"We already know this movie, so once more, along with the civil, military and police union we are acting. We already know how they operate."
The Venezuelan Conflict Observatory said "numerous acts of repression and violence carried out by paramilitary collectives and security forces have been reported".
At least two people were killed in connection with the vote count or protests - one overnight in the border state of Tachira and another in Maracay on Monday.
Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino warned against allowing a repeat of the "terrible situations of 2014, 2017 and 2019".
When anti-government protesters took to the streets those years hundreds were killed.
Electoral authorities said on Monday that Maduro had won a third term as president with 51 per cent of the vote, extending a quarter-century of socialist rule.
But the opposition said nearly three quarters of voting tallies to which it has access showed its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez had won an unassailable victory, winning more than twice as many votes as Maduro.
Independent pollsters called Maduro's claim of victory implausible, and governments in Washington and elsewhere immediately cast doubt on the results and called for a full tabulation of votes.
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