A demonstrator uses a Venezuelan flag to strike at a line of Bolivarian National Police officers in riot gear, during clashes at a anti-government protest in Caracas, Venezuela, yesterday. A university student has died and a number of others, including three National Guardsmen, have been wounded after being shot by unknown assailants in two separate incidents in the central Venezuelan city of Valencia.

Police fired tear gas and water cannon yesterday to push back scores of rock-hurling students in the capital Caracas, with protests also taking place in at least three other major Venezuelan cities. About 3,000 students marched in Caracas to mark a month since the first deaths in weeks of anti-government demonstrations that have now killed 22 people.

The demonstrations have been fuelled by public discontent over deteriorating living conditions in the oil-rich South American country, where violent crime, shortages and inflation have combined to create the most serious challenge yet for leftist President Nicolas Maduro. (PHOTO: AP)