<html>
<body>
<font size=3>Published on venezuelanalysis.com
(<a href="http://www.venezuelanalysis.com">
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com</a>) <br>
Opposition Violence at Venezuelan University - What Really
Happened<br><br>
Author: <br>
Rodrigo Trompiz and Jorge Martin - Hands Off Venezuela<br>
Source (Text): <br>
Hands Off Venezuela<br>
Source (URL): <br>
<a href="http://www.handsoffvenezuela.org/violence_venezuela_university.htm" eudora="autourl">
http://www.handsoffvenezuela.org/violence_venezuela_university.htm<br><br>
</a>According to eyewitness reports from Hands Off Venezuela members,
violence broke out yesterday in Caracas when opposition students arrived
back from a peaceful demonstration against the proposed constitutional
reforms. Apparently frustrated by the lack of violence, a group of about
250 of the opposition students (many from other universities) went
straight to the Central University of Venezuela (UCV) to the School of
Social Work which is a stronghold of revolutionary students inside UCV.
<br><br>
There, a group of revolutionary students was campaigning for a yes vote
in the referendum. They had an assembly for
students/teachers/non-teaching staff in the morning and were putting up
posters and giving out leaflets. <br><br>
They were then attacked by the opposition students who surrounded the
School. Molotov cocktails and stones were thrown, the toilets were
destroyed, the door of the Students Centre (Bolivarian dominated) was
burned down, and around 150 people (students, teachers and non-teaching
staff) were trapped inside the building for several hours, with the
violent opposition students trying to force their way into the building
to lynch them. <br><br>
Some of the students inside the Faculty are nationally known Bolivarian
student leaders (including Andreina Taranzon who spoke in the debate with
opposition students at the National Assembly earlier this year at the
time of the RCTV protests). They managed to call the state TV and
reported live on what was happening. <br><br>
The police are not allowed to enter University premises owing to a law on
University autonomy. The Mayor of Caracas offered the possibility of the
Metropolitan Police going in to contain violence and allow people in the
School to come out, but the rector of the University, a member of the
opposition, refused the offer. The University authorities are responsible
for security on their own premises and did nothing to prevent violence
from escalating. <br>
<img src="http://www.handsoffvenezuela.org/images/stories/ucv/t_ucv_ap_captc64a7e45c2f1424d9ba3a4e6a60a66a7venezuela_protest_car112_876.jpg" width=360 height=239 alt="Violent oppositon supporters at the UCV- picture Reuters">
<br>
<i>Violent oppositon supporters at the UCV- picture Reuters<br><br>
</i>Meanwhile, opposition TV stations were full of reports that masked
Chavista supporters had fired on opposition students and that one person
had been killed (this was then proven to be false, nine students were
injured, most of them from inhaling fumes from the fires started by
opposition students). <br><br>
Finally, the head of emergency and fire-fighting services was allowed by
the rector to go into the university and negotiate the safe exit of the
people who were trapped inside the School of Social Work by a violent mob
of opposition students. <br>
<img src="http://www.handsoffvenezuela.org/images/stories/ucv/t_abn_07_11_2007_disturbiosucvviopo10_146.jpg" width=360 height=240 alt="The School of Social Work trashed by opposition students (ABN)">
<br>
<i>The School of Social Work trashed by opposition students
(ABN)<br><br>
</i>The international media has been "reporting" about these
clashes as if "armed Chavista gunmen" had fired on peaceful
opposition students. A member of Hands Off Venezuela was present at the
University when the violence broke out. He reports that the gunmen who
originally opened fire stopped him on his way through the UCV to the
Bolivarian University nearby. He reports that the two gunmen on the
motorbike did not look like students, but were more likely thugs hired
for the occasion and that they were shouting anti-Chavez slogans and
boasting of having shot at Chavistas. <br><br>
Even news agencies now are reporting that Bolivarian armed men arrived at
the UCV <i>after the opposition students had sieged 150 people inside the
building of the School of Social Work</i> to help those sieged gain safe
passage out:
<dl>
<dd>Later, armed men riding motorcycles arrived, scaring off students and
standing at the doorway - one of them firing a handgun in the air - as
people fled the building.
(<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-7060225,00.html">
The Guardian</a> [1] ) <br><br>
</dl>What Hands Off Venezuela eyewitness report is that, faced with the
inaction of the University authorities, hundreds of students, University
workers and people from nearby neighbourhoods finally went into the
University to help the people at the School of Social Work escape from
the violent mob of opposition students. Some of them were carrying guns,
which was only normal considering the extremely violent nature of the
situation. <br><br>
Bolivarian students, teachers and non-teaching staff have now held a
joint meeting at the UCV and called for a demonstration against fascist
aggressions to take place in the UCV on November 15. <br><br>
Videos of the violent attack by opposition students can be seen here:
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.radiomundial.com.ve/yvke/noticia.php?988">
http://www.radiomundial.com.ve/yvke/noticia.php?988</a> [2]
<li>
<a href="http://www.radiomundial.com.ve/yvke/noticia.php?990" eudora="autourl">
http://www.radiomundial.com.ve/yvke/noticia.php?990</a> [3]
</ul><br>
<br>
Image Description: <br>
Violent opposition students outside the School of Social Work (ABN)<br>
<hr>
Source URL:
<a href="http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/2818">
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/2818</a> <br><br>
Links:<br>
[1]
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-7060225,00.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-7060225,00.html<br>
</a>[2]
<a href="http://www.radiomundial.com.ve/yvke/noticia.php?988" eudora="autourl">
http://www.radiomundial.com.ve/yvke/noticia.php?988<br>
</a>[3]
<a href="http://www.radiomundial.com.ve/yvke/noticia.php?990" eudora="autourl">
http://www.radiomundial.com.ve/yvke/noticia.php?990<br><br>
<br><br>
</a></font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3 color="#FF0000">Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#008000">415 863-9977<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#0000FF">
<a href="http://www.freedomarchives.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.Freedomarchives.org</a></font><font size=3> </font></body>
</html>