- Title: Banging on empty pots, Venezuelans protest food shortages
- Date: 3rd June 2017
- Summary: CARACAS, VENEZUELA (JUNE 3, 2017) (REUTERS) DEMONSTRATORS PUSHING AGAINST A WALL SET UP BY NATIONAL GUARD RIOT POLICE DEMONSTRATORS CLASHING WITH NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS AND TAKING ONE OF THEIR SHIELDS DEMONSTRATOR WITH NATIONAL GUARD SHIELD VARIOUS OF DEMONSTRATORS PUSHING NATIONAL GUARD SHIELDS DEMONSTRATOR WITH A SLINGSHOT WATER CANNON SPRAYING DEMONSTRATORS MORE OF WATER CANNON DEMONSTRATOR GRABBING A TEAR GAS CANISTER TO GET IT OFF THE STREET VARIOUS OF DEMONSTRATORS CLEARING STREET OF TEAR GAS CANISTERS DEMONSTRATORS CARRYING AN INJURED DEMONSTRATOR AWAY PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, JULIO BORGES, AT DEMONSTRATION VARIOUS OF OPPOSITION LEADER, HENRIQUE CAPRILES, AT DEMONSTRATION (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) OPPOSITION LEADER, HENRIQUE CAPRILES, SAYING: "They are so shameless, brazen, that they also want to be the ones who make up the fraud to redact a constitution. We Venezuelans cannot allow this." DEMONSTRATORS NEAR WALL SET UP BY NATIONAL GUARD AS TEAR GAS CANISTERS FALLS INTO THE STREET DEMONSTRATOR THROWING A TEAR GAS CANISTER BACK AT THE NATIONAL GUARD NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS ON MOTORCYCLES DEMONSTRATORS WITH POTS AND PANS CLOSE-UP OF A POT WITH (Spanish) "THERE IS HUNGER, MADURO" WRITTEN ON IT DEMONSTRATORS BANGING POTS AND PANS CLOSE-UP FO AN ELDERLY DEMONSTRATOR CLOSE-UP OF POT BEING BANGED WITH SPOON DEMONSTRATORS HIDING UP LETTERS SPELLING OUT (Spanish) "THE GOVERNMENT GETS FAT" (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DEMONSTRATOR, ANA RODRIGUEZ, SAYING: "This government has to think. It has taken care of everything that's going on, everything that's happening. I'm out here for my kids and grandkids. My kids have left (home), my grandkids are three-years-old and I don't want them to suffer anymore because of (lack of) medicine or food, diapers, milk. Alright, enough is enough. We're all in the same hole together." MORE OF DEMONSTRATORS WITH SIGNS SPELLING OUT (Spanish) "HUNGER HURTS. PROTESTING" VARIOUS OF DEMONSTRATORS MARCHING AND BANGING POTS AND PANS VICE PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, FREDDY GUEVARA, DURING DEMONSTRATION VARIOUS MORE OF DEMONSTRATION
- Embargoed: 17th June 2017 20:07
- Keywords: food shortages hunger Nicolas Maduro demonstration march protest Venezuela
- Location: CARACAS, VENEZUELA
- City: CARACAS, VENEZUELA
- Country: Venezuela
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Civil Unrest
- Reuters ID: LVA0016JQ4C3R
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Banging empty pots and brandishing signs saying "only the government is growing fatter," Venezuelan activists in Caracas on Saturday (June 3) protested food shortages in the crisis-stricken country.
The march by a few hundred people, quickly halted by security officials firing tear gas, built on two months of near-daily demonstrations against leftist President Nicolas Maduro, who critics say has plunged oil-rich Venezuela into its worst economic crisis in history.
Protesters are demanding early presidential elections, freedom for jailed activists, and humanitarian aid to allow in scarce medicines and food.
Currency controls that crimp imports, as well as ailing local farms, have left many supermarket shelves empty.
Around 93 percent of Venezuelans cannot afford to buy enough food and 73 percent of them have lost weight in the last year, according to a recent study by three universities.
Children begging in front of bakeries, restaurants, or markets are now a common sight, while more and more people are salvaging food from the trash. Many in the middle class have had to cut back on meat or vegetables and instead get by on cheaper starches.
In what he says is an attempt to bring "peace" to Venezuela, Maduro is creating a new super-body, known as a constituent assembly, to rewrite the national charter, a plan opposition leader Henrique Capriles called shameless while marching with demonstrators on Saturday.
At least 64 people have been killed since the unrest began in early April, with the state prosecutor's office on Saturday confirming another death. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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