<p>Anti-government protesters in the Venezuelan city of Maracaibo came into conflict with security forces on May 10, after staging a demonstration outside the gates of the city’s courthouse.</p><p>The protesters had emptied a sack of excrement</a> outside the gates of the building, before being fired upon with smoke bombs by the national guard troops.</p><p>The demonstration was part of a larger protest</a> which took in Maracaibo on May 10. The region’s National Assembly member, Elimar Diaz, took part in a march “in defense of the constitution”.</p><p>Diaz and other marchers eventually reached</a> the court house.</p><p>The practice of throwing containers of excrement, dubbed puputovs</a>, has become common during the recent turmoil in Venezuelan.</p><br />
