[link|http://www.inq7.net/wnw/2004/mar/04/wnw_7-1.htm|Fake democracy and police brutality seem to rub them the wrong way]

Excerpts:

CARACAS - A protestor was shot dead late Tuesday as rioters blocked roads and burned tires after election officials said the opposition had not collected enough signatures to demand a recall referendum of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

The opposition rejected the National Electoral Council's determination that only 1.8 million signature were valid.

Just over 2.4 million signatures were needed to demand the recall.

"We refuse to accept the verification (process) in this manner," Julio Andres Borges, of the Democratic Coordinator, an opposition umbrella group.

Borges told reporters that the council had "broken the rules of the game."

...But angry Venezuelans turned out to bang empty pots, blockade roads and set bags of garbage afire in opposition-held districts.

Television showed fierce protests in El Rosal commercial district. In Chacao, an anti-Chavez neighborhood, bonfires were lit to the sound of pots clanging and gunshots.

As unrest spread, local mayor Leopoldo Lopez told Venezuelan media that a protestor had been shot dead in Chacao.

"He died after receiving a bullet in the thorax," Lopez, an opposition supporter, said without giving further details.

[link|http://www.publiuspundit.com/?p=1293|Here's more links] with more recent stamps.

Here's some pictures: [link|http://www.vcrisis.com/index.php?content=letters/200507021643|2.07.05] is that February 7th, Or July 2nd? Let the EU bureaucrats sort it out. Me, I think we should all use SQL style dates. Or epoch seconds. Yeah, epoch seconds. No more messing with time zones or Daylight Savings Nonsense or day of the week or leap years. Anyone reminiscing about the Sixties will have to use negative numbers.