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Catholic mission in Venezuela hit with tear gas
04 Feb 2009 23:39:00 GMT
 Source: Reuters
CARACAS, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Tear gas canisters were lobbed into the Vatican's diplomatic compound in Caracas on Wednesday, the head of the mission said, days after armed men vandalized a synagogue in the capital.

The Vatican's Nunciature previously has been the target of tear gas attacks by hard-line supporters of socialist President Hugo Chavez who say the Roman Catholic Church meddles in the country's politics.

Venezuelan media said two canisters landed inside the compound and two fell outside.

"We totally reject these actions, they cannot be permitted," Giacinto Berloco, who heads the mission, told Reuters.

Chavez is campaigning ahead of a referendum vote on Feb. 15 that could help him extend his rule, and some radical supporters have stepped up acts against perceived enemies of the president.

On Friday armed men forced their way into a synagogue in Caracas, destroying religious objects and spray-painting walls.

The attackers, who also hit the administrative center of the Venezuelan Israelite Association, wrote racist slogans such as "Jews get out."

The incident sparked international outrage and complaints by the Jewish community of growing anti-Semitism in Venezuela.

Chavez, a fierce critic of the Israeli state who expelled Israel's ambassador in January in protest at the Gaza offensive, condemned the synagogue attack and blamed it on groups opposed to his government.

He insists he is tolerant of all religions and cultures. But some of his supporters are openly anti-Semitic and anti-Jewish graffiti has increased in Caracas since the offensive in the Middle East.

Nobody claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attack, but a small group called La Piedrita has said it carried out other recent gas attacks on the Nunciature. (Reporting by Deisy Buitrago; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Xavier Briand)


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