Venezuelan police fire tear gas during clash ahead of vote

By Deisy Buitrago and Efrain Otero

CARACAS (Reuters) - Police fired tear gas in downtown Caracas on Thursday as anti-government student protesters clashed with supporters of late President Hugo Chavez in an increasingly volatile atmosphere ahead of next month's election.

Several hundred students were marching to the election board's headquarters to demand a clean vote when they were blocked by government supporters who hurled stones, bottles and eggs at them, a Reuters witness said.

Some of the students threw stones back, other witnesses said.

"We were holding a peaceful march. ... All we want is democracy," said law student Eduardo Vargas, 19, whose eye was injured in the incident. "We're all Venezuelans. We just want a fair vote."

Police fired tear gas towards the 150 or so government supporters and formed a cordon between the two sides.

It was the first outbreak of violence since an election was called on April 14 for the South American OPEC nation following Chavez's death from cancer two weeks ago.

Both candidates, acting President Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Henrique Capriles, have been trading personal accusations as they rally supporters for the vote.

One onlooker, Gustavo Malave, a 78-year-old who works for one of the socialist "community councils" set up during Chavez's 14-year rule, blamed the students for starting the trouble.

"The clash began because the opposition started throwing stones," he said. "I support Chavez and Maduro. Chavez set this course, and it's going to continue for 40 or 50 years."

Before the clash, the students had been marching to the election headquarters singing the national anthem and carrying signs including "Free and fair elections" and "Nicolas is a liar."

"The students are saying to the world and to the country that we are in the street. We want transparent and free elections," said one student leader, Victor Fernandez.

Maduro at an evening campaign rally called the students "a small group of recalcitrant right-wing people."

"None of us can ... be provoked by those tiny groups that make a living off hatred," he said.

He said the group had links to two U.S. diplomats expelled on the day of Chavez's death on charges they were attempting to conspire with the Venezuelan military.

"I want you to know that those two men directly gave orders and instructions and money to this same group," he said.

That charge follows a flurry of recent accusations against U.S. authorities including a charge that the State Department is seeking to kill Capriles to spark a coup.

Washington denies the accusation.

With sympathy over Chavez's death galvanizing government supporters, Maduro, 50, a longtime socialist stalwart, is favorite to win next month's vote.

Two polls published this week put the former bus driver ahead of Capriles by more than 14 percentage points.

Capriles, a 40-year-old state governor, accuses Maduro of being a nonentity who is exploiting the emotion around Chavez's death. He wants voters to focus on daily problems confronting Venezuelans ranging from potholes to high crime rates and corruption.

Capriles, a centrist politician who says Brazil's free-market economics with strong welfare policies is his model for Venezuela, lost to Chavez last year by 11 percentage points.

(Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Sandra Maler)

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Venezuela election rivals clash over crime

By Daniel Wallis

CARACAS (Reuters) - Moments after he registered to run in Venezuela's April 14 election, acting President Nicolas Maduro vowed to go on foot, unarmed, into the toughest slums of Caracas and ask the gangs there to lay down their guns.

Maduro and his opponent, Henrique Capriles, have clashed over a top campaign issue: the daily murders, armed robberies and kidnappings that make the South American country one of the most dangerous in the world.

"We'll go like this, with our chests bare!" Maduro cried at the campaign event, driving the crowd wild as he pulled open his Venezuelan-flag tracksuit top to reveal a red T-shirt emblazoned with the eyes of his late boss, Hugo Chavez.

"We'll go without fear, to tell these youths to stop the killing, to give up the guns, to come to Christ the Redeemer!"

Fears about personal safety routinely top polls of voters' concerns in the country with the world's biggest oil reserves - despite the many programs started by Chavez during his 14-year rule aimed at bringing down the homicide figures.

In a report last week, the U.N. Development Program said that only Honduras, El Salvador, Ivory Coast and Jamaica had worse rates than Venezuela's 45.1 murders per 100,000 people. The rate in the United States was 4.2.

The Venezuelan government concedes the country suffers more violent crime than most of the region. But it accuses opposition politicians of exaggerating the problem and shamelessly stoking fears to tarnish Chavez's socialist "revolution."

On Sunday, Maduro accused the U.S. Department of Defense and Central Intelligence Agency of plotting to assassinate Capriles and blame it on the government to cause chaos and trigger a coup ahead of the vote. Washington categorically denied it.

The opposition candidate, a 40-year-old centrist state governor who accuses Maduro of exploiting the emotion over Chavez's March 5 death in an effort to win the election, kicked off a provincial tour over the weekend.

Capriles calls Maduro a poor imitation of Chavez and mocked his performance outside the electoral authority offices.

"Do you think Nicolas is going to solve the violence problem? It's not opening your jacket and saying 'I'm Superman and I'm going to go I don't know where,'" Capriles said.

"I'd like to leave my house at 11, 12 o'clock in the night, for my children to be able to go out and me not to be terrified. Can we do that today? Can we live like that? No."

WEAK JUSTICE SYSTEM

At the root of the country's crime problem, experts say, is a proliferation of firearms and drugs, and a weak justice system that means the majority of offenses go unpunished.

Among a spate of attacks on prominent victims, a U.S. Major League baseball player and diplomats from Mexico, Chile, Belarus and Costa Rica have been abducted in recent months.

So-called express kidnappings, where targets are dragged off city streets or from their cars and taken to cash machines, or held for a few hours until a ransom is paid, are common.

The government says there were 16,000 homicides nationwide last year, but non-governmental organizations put the figure much higher. The Venezuelan Violence Observatory said its conservative estimate for 2012 was more than 21,000 murders.

Without detailed statistics from the authorities, it is not possible to crosscheck the numbers.

Stung by allegations that the situation is out of control, Chavez's administration revamped the main investigative police unit last year, created several new public safety bodies, and said it cut the homicide rate in Caracas by 10 percent.

Most afflicted by the gangs of criminals are poor residents living in the myriad shantytowns where the late president found his most fervent followers.

Voters seldom held Chavez personally responsible for the high crime rate. Some viewed him almost as a member of the family, others in near-religious terms. Maduro is trying to forge the same emotional bond, but lacks Chavez's charisma.

On Sunday, he inaugurated a new sports facility in the capital's gritty Petare barrio, briefly taking to the court to play basketball with a group of youths. There were wild cheers when he made a basket on his third attempt.

The acting president, who appeared to have visited the neighborhood with the normal level of security and bodyguards that he normally would, blames violent crime on a decadent legacy left behind by capitalist governments in the OPEC nation.

"They've given us these values from birth through narco-TV shows, fashion linked subliminally to drug consumption, fashion linked to pistols, and the cults of guns and of criminal gangs," he said after he registered his candidacy for the presidency.

He accuses the opposition of cynically allowing bandits to roam unchecked - for example, in Miranda state, which includes poor parts of Caracas and where Capriles is governor.

"You know why?" Maduro said to the crowd. "Because they don't care about people's lives. They prefer barrios that are full of drugs and criminality so they can continue stigmatizing the people like they have done for the last 500 years."

(Editing by Bill Trott)

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Christian protesters, police clash in Pakistan

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Hundreds of Christians clashed with police across Pakistan on Sunday, a day after a Muslim mob burned dozens of homes owned by members of the minority religious group in retaliation for alleged insults against Islam's Prophet Muhammad.

Christians are often the target of Pakistan's harsh blasphemy laws, which rights activists say are frequently used to persecute religious minorities or settle personal disputes. Politicians have been reluctant to reform the laws for fear of being attacked by religious radicals, as has happened in the past.

The plight of Pakistan's other religious minorities, such as Shiite Muslims, Hindus and Ahmadis, has also deepened in recent years as hard-line interpretations of Islam have gained ground and militants have stepped up attacks against groups they oppose. Most Pakistanis are Sunni Muslims.

The latest incident began Friday after a Muslim in the eastern city of Lahore accused a Christian man of blasphemy — an offense punishable by life in prison or even death. A day later, hundreds of angry Muslims rampaged through the Christian neighborhood, burning about 170 houses.

Authorities have arrested 160 suspected members of the mob, many of whom were identified through TV footage and photos published in newspapers, said police officer Abdur Rehman.

But it remains to be seen whether anyone will be held to account. Mob violence is not uncommon following blasphemy allegations, and police often round up large numbers of suspects. However, these arrests rarely result in actual convictions.

There have been no convictions related to a deadly attack on Christians in 2009 in the eastern city of Gojra that was also sparked by blasphemy allegations, the Express Tribune newspaper reported Sunday. Angry Muslims burned dozens of houses in Gojra, killing eight Christians — seven of them from one family trapped in a burning home.

No Christians were hurt in Saturday's attack in Lahore because they fled the area overnight before the mob arrived. But police were criticized for failing to prevent the mob from attacking the Christians' homes.

The largest demonstrations on Sunday were in Lahore and the southern city of Karachi. About 1,000 people protested in both places, and smaller demonstrations were held in the capital, Islamabad, and the adjoining city of Rawalpindi.

In Lahore, hundreds of protesters, some carrying large crucifixes, blocked a main highway as they pressed their demands for better compensation payments from the government, said police official Malik Awais. Police fired tear gas canisters and used batons to disperse the demonstrators and took six of them into custody, he said.

The protesters damaged several vehicles, uprooted a fence along the road and burned an electricity generator, Awais said. They also pelted police with stones, injuring seven of them, he said.

Government spokesman Pervaiz Rasheed promised the government would help the Christians rebuild their houses, but the protesters expressed dissatisfaction with the way the government was handling the incident.

"I have been robbed of all of my life's savings," said Yousuf Masih, standing outside his burned home. He said the government's announcement that it would give 200,000 rupees ($2,000) compensation to each family was a joke.

Awais said the protesters were demanding the government raise the compensation amount from 200,000 rupees ($2,000) to 1 million rupees ($10,000).

In Karachi, protesters blocked a road in a main market and damaged about 25 vehicles, said police officer Ali Raza. Some of the demonstrators also attacked 10 shops and looted valuables and cash, he said. Police beat back the protesters and fired tear gas to disperse them. At least two protesters were taken into custody, Raza said.

Police have taken the Christian man accused of blasphemy into custody pending an investigation. Those who attacked the Christian neighborhood are also being investigated for a range of offenses, including arson, robbery and insulting the feelings of the Christian community, said Rehman, the police officer.

Akram Gill, a local bishop in the Lahore Christian community, said the incident had more to do with personal enmity between the two men involved than blasphemy. He said the men got into a brawl after drinking late one night, and in the morning the Muslim man made up the blasphemy story as payback.

Once an accusation is made, it's difficult to get it reversed, partly because law enforcement officials and politicians do not want to be seen as being soft on blasphemers.

Two prominent politicians were assassinated in 2011 for urging reform of the law. The killer of one of the politicians was hailed as a hero, and lawyers at his legal appearances showered him with rose petals.

According to Human Rights Watch, there are at least 16 people on death row in Pakistan for blasphemy and another 20 are serving life sentences.

While Muslims are frequently accused of blasphemy, members of Pakistan's small Christian community are especially vulnerable to the accusations. Christians make up less than 5 percent of Pakistan's 180 million people and many hold low-paying jobs, such as cleaning and street sweeping.

Last year, there was a rare reversal of a blasphemy case against A teenage Christian girl with suspected mental disabilities who was accused of burning pages of the Quran. She was released after a huge domestic and international outcry about her treatment. A local Muslim cleric was arrested and accused of planting the pages in her bag to incriminate her, a rare example of the accuser facing legal consequences. However, he was later freed on bail.

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Associated Press Writer Rasool Dawar in Peshawar and Adil Jawad in Karachi, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

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