page_title: Mother of All Marches
section_title: Protests
hierarchical_section_title: Mother of All Marches / Protests
caption_attribution_description: English: Altamira Square, one of the meeting points of the April 19th 2017 march in Venezuela This is a photo of a Venezuelan monument identified by the ID MIRCHO-0076
context_page_description: The Mother of All Marches, also known as the Mother of All Protests, was a day of protests held on April 19, 2017 in Venezuela against the Chavista government of president Nicolás Maduro. The protests began after the Supreme Tribunal of Justice dissolved the National Assembly and took over its legislative powers March 29, 2017 in what was called a self-coup. The dissolution of the National Assembly was reversed shortly thereafter on April 1, 2017.
  Opposition protesters originally marched peacefully until their path was blocked by Venezuelan authorities, with some looting and clashes resulting following the confrontation. By the end of that day, three Venezuelans were killed, two protesters and one National Guardsman, and over 500 were arrested.
context_section_description: The day began with demonstrators gathering around the country at about 10:30am, with Caracas having 26 different routes for the main march to head to the office of the Ombudsman Tarek William Saab to demonstrate. As the march progressed through Caracas, the National Guard began to block routes and fire tear gas at marchers at 11:50am, with the demonstrators refusing to leave despite the use of force.
  At about 12:30pm, demonstrations by both opposition and pro-government Venezuelans fill Caracas' avenues. Shortly after 12:45pm, protesters on the Francisco Fajardo Freeway near Bello Monte begin to flee the area after enduring over an hour of tear gas from authorities, with many leaping into the Guaire River, which is used for sewage drainage, to avoid the gas. Near 2:10pm, a 17-year-old boy was shot in the head and killed at a protest. At about 4:35pm, pro-government paramilitaries called colectivos shot and killed Paola Ramirez, a 23-year-old woman who was protesting.
  Later in the evening, a National Guardsman was killed south of Caracas, the first official killed in the year's protests, with the day's deaths raising the death toll of 2017 protests to at least 8 people.  By 9:00pm, the Penal Forum stated that 521 Venezuelans had been arrested throughout the day, bringing the number of total arrests since the beginning of the year to over 1,000.
caption: Altamira Square, one of the meeting points of the 19 April 2017 march.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "HUAWEI", "Image Model": "HUAWEI LUA-L03", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "MediaTek Camera Application", "Image DateTime": "2017:04:19 09:59:07", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Tag 0x0220": "0", "Image Tag 0x0221": "0", "Image Tag 0x0222": "0", "Image Tag 0x0223": "0", "Image Tag 0x0224": "0", "Image Tag 0x0225": "", "Image ExifOffset": "414", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1268", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "14473", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "21/20000", "EXIF FNumber": "12/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Unidentified", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "57", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2017:04:19 09:59:07", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2017:04:19 09:59:07", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "other light source", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "7/2", "EXIF SubSecTime": "72", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "72", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "72", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2560", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1920", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "918", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}