At least 68 people were killed in a riot and a fire in the cells of a police station in Valencia, Venezuela, on Wednesday. Distraught family members of the deceased are now demanding answers from the authorities.
“The State Prosecutor’s Office guarantees to deepen investigations to immediately clarify what happened in these painful events that have left dozens of Venezuelan families in mourning,” said Chief Prosecutor Tarek William Saab on Twitter.
A Reuters report says that family members of the inmates trapped inside the burning police station were dispersed from the premises with tear gas as they waited for information.
State official Jesus Santander sais forensic doctors are still trying to determine the number of fatalities. He reported that a policeman was shot in the leg during the riot but is now in a stable condition, and that firefighters were sucessful in extinguishing the fire.
As the distraught relatives of deceased demand explanations, rights groups and opposition politicians are blaming leftist President Nicolas Maduro for overcrowding in the Venezuela’s notoriously violent jails.
Reports say that the list of deceased do not only include jail inmates, but also two people who were visiting their relatives in there.
On Thursday, the scene in the city was quiet, mournful and desperate as about 100 largely poor Venezuelans waited to collect bodies or to verify that their jailed relatives were alive.
[Reuters]