Venezuela’s opposition protests on Wednesday may be the messiest in a six-week wave of unrest as demonstrators prepare to throw faeces at security forces, adding to the customary rocks, petrol bombs and tear gas.
The new tactic has been dubbed the “Poopootov” in a play on the Molotov cocktails often seen at streets protests in Venezuela. “They have gas; we have excrement,” reads an image floating around social media to advertise the “Sh** March.”
With inflation in the high triple-digits, shortages of the most basic medicines, and millions suffering food scarcity, the country is undergoing a major crisis. For weeks, hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets, angry at the government of unpopular President Nicolas Maduro.
Some opposition sympathisers are appalled at the plans to use faeces, both animal and human, calling it an unsanitary and inappropriate tactic even in the face of a government they despise.
