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At least seven people have been killed in Venezuela as thousands of protesters took to the streets in a bid to topple President Maduro’s government.
Tens of thousands in the capital of Caracas and throughout Venezuela rallied around opposition politician Juan Guaido, who declared himself interim president and called for an election.
President Maduro has been criticised for alleged human rights abuses and his handling of the economy.
Despite calls from the US, Canada, Brazil and Argentina, president Maduro shows no signs of leaving.
Demonstrators in the southern city of Puerto Ordaz toppled a statue of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez. They broke the statue in half and dangled part of it from a bridge.
A rally in the east of the capital Caracas drew hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans.
During the rally, opposition politician Juan Guaido accused Mr Maduro of usurping power and vowed to create a transitional government that would help the country escape its hyperinfloatory economic collapse.
In a televised broadcast from the presidential palace, Maduro accused the opposition of seeking to stage a coup with the support of the United States, which he said was seeking to govern Venezuela from Washington.
“We’ve had enough interventionism, here we have dignity, damn it! Here is a people willing to defend this land,” said Maduro, flanked by top Socialist Party leaders.
On Caracas’ streets on Wednesday, protesters wielding rocks and clubs clashed with police.
“We’re hungry. Look how skinny I am: there’s no food in my house,” said one young man in Chacao, holding a molotov cocktail. He declined to give his name. “We have to get rid of Maduro.”