Anti-Maduro protests spread

Protests spread around Venezuela yesterday and police fired tear gas in the capital Caracas as the opposition said it had voting-tally proof it won a weekend election awarded to long-ruling socialist President Nicolas Maduro.

Demonstrations began after the election board, which critics say is in the pocket of a dictatorial government, declared on Monday that Maduro had won a third term with 51 percent of the vote, extending his "Chavista" movement's quarter-century rule.

But the opposition said the 73 percent of vote tallies to which it has access showed its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez had won by a landslide, with more than twice as many votes as Maduro.

Many Venezuelans staged "cacerolazos", a traditional Latin American protest where people bang pots and pans in anger. Some blocked roads, lit fires and threw petrol bombs at police. At least four people were killed as police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters.