CARACAS, Venezuela — Government forces used water cannons and tear gas Wednesday to turn back opposition marches in the capital, where borough mayors defied a Supreme Court order that they clear street barricades.Clouds of gas hovered near the entrance to the Central University of Venezuela in Caracas and at the adjoining Botanical Garden, where protesters had converged to join a march headed to the public defender’s office.
“It was horrible. I had to run a long way,” said Maria Alfonzo, a 22-year-old science student who was leaving the campus when she was overcome by the gas. “The National Guard is supposed to protect us, not threaten and mistreat us. We should have the right to protest.”
Meanwhile, the death toll from more than a month of often violent demonstrations against the government of President Nicolas Maduro rose to 24 Wednesday after Jesus Enrique Acosta, 23, was reported killed by a gunshot to the head in the La Isabelica barrio of Valencia, about 75 miles southwest of the capital. Six others were reported wounded by gunfire in the northern industrial city.
Witnesses said Acosta, an engineering student at the University of Carabobo, was shot by a member of the “colectivos,” motorcycle-riding vigilantes that have been blamed for other killings across Venezuela since the anti-Maduro protests erupted Feb. 12.