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Police blocked dissident Venezuelan MP Maria Corina Machado from returning to the legislature yesterday and fired tear gas to disperse a crowd of her supporters.
In a direct challenge to President Nicolas Maduro, Ms Machado had vowed to attend the National Assembly, despite confirmation by the Supreme Court on Monday that she had been removed from office.
Backed by 22 opposition MPs and a crowd of her right-wing supporters, she was confronted by a group of pro-government Chavistas denouncing her as a “traitor.”
Ms Machado claimed that the block on her was “proof that there is a dictatorship in Venezuela.”
But assembly speaker and ruling United Socialist Party head Diosdado Cabello said Ms Machado had forfeited her seat and legislative immunity when she was accredited to the Panamanian delegation to the Washington-based Organisation of American States.
Backing the decision, government supporters had complained to the attorney general on Tuesday and accused Ms Machado of treason.
