Four people were shot and wounded on Friday when foes and supporters of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez clashed in Caracas as the opposition stepped up street protests in its drive to force the leftist leader to resign.

Demonstrators and police ran for cover after dozens of gunshots rang out near the center of the capital, breaking the uneasy Christmas calm that had settled over the streets during an ongoing 33-day-old opposition strike against Chavez.

"There was a volley of shots. We all threw ourselves to the ground. There was chaos and total panic. The shooting didn't stop," said a Reuters photographer at the scene. 
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Four people were hit by gunfire and another person was injured by police shotgun pellets, Fire Chief Rodolfo Briceno told Reuters. But it was unclear who had opened fire. At least 12 other people were wounded by stones or bottles.

National Guard troops fired tear gas and shotgun pellets to stop a few hundred Chavez supporters from attacking thousands of opposition marchers. Confused running battles broke out with troops as both sides hurled bottles and rocks.

Columns of smoke wafted high above apartment blocks in the southwest part of Caracas as pro-Chavez demonstrators set up burning barricades near Fuerte Tiuna military base to block the opposition marchers demanding the government free a dissident general detained this week.

The opposition strike, started on Dec. 2, has choked oil shipments and stoked fears of violence in the world's No. 5 petroleum exporter. Global oil prices have hit two-year highs due to the strike and a possible U.S. war with Iraq.

Opposition leaders are locked in a stalemate with the government as they vow to keep up the strike until Chavez quits and accepts early elections. They have held daily marches and urged supporters not to pay taxes to keep up the pressure.

But the populist president has refused to quit and promised to defeat the shutdown, which he calls an attempt to topple him. Chavez said that he would only consider declaring a state of emergency if the situation required such a measure.

"That would be decided by the circumstances," Chavez said. "I am obliged to protect public order."

"FAILED REVOLUTION"

Opponents and supporters of the president have been caught up in a bitter political conflict for more than a year and rival rallies and marches have often ended in violent clashes.

Foes of Chavez say he has failed in his electoral promise to tackle poverty and corruption. Instead, they say, his self-styled "revolution" has driven Venezuela toward economic ruin and chaos with its left-wing reforms and mismanagement.

Since his 1998 election, Chavez has portrayed himself as a champion of the poor in a nation where impoverished slums sit uneasily alongside rich neighborhoods. Despite Venezuela's vast oil wealth, most of its population lives in poverty.

Opposition leaders, who accuse former paratrooper Chavez of ruling like a dictator, have appealed to the armed forces to help secure the release of Gen. Carlos Alfonso Martinez, who was involved in a short-lived April coup against Chavez.

Provoking opposition outrage, the National Guard general is being held despite a court order for his release. Military authorities have not announced formal charges against him. But he and more than 100 other anti-Chavez officers have staged a peaceful protest in an east Caracas square since late October.

Fears over splits within the armed forces have rattled Venezuela since April when Chavez was briefly toppled by rebel generals and admirals. Top military commanders appear to back the president despite calls for popular resistance.

Nearly five weeks into the strike, the government and opposition are locked in a struggle for control of the oil industry. Chavez, who has tried to restart strike-bound state oil giant PDVSA using troops, loyal workers and retirees.

But strikers have argued it would take at least four months for operations to resume.

Talks between both sides chaired by the Organization of American States and backed by the United States have gone nowhere. Negotiations continued Friday.

The opposition wants to hold a nonbinding referendum on Chavez's rule on Feb. 2, hoping to illustrate how far his popularity has fallen. Chavez said on Friday the referendum still needed to be ratified by the Supreme Court, but the opposition said it would go ahead with the poll.

The president has said he will ignore the result. He said the constitution only allows a referendum on his mandate in August -- halfway through his current term which ends in 2007.

Finance Minister Tobias Nobrega told Reuters that the government would be forced to halve its original 2003 economic growth forecast of between 2.5 percent and 3.5 percent due to the strike. Oil sales account for half of government revenues and 80 percent of the country's total exports. 

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