Venezuelan opposition disrupt solidarity meeting in Liverpool

From the Liverpool Marxist society Facebook Page:

We organised a meeting tonight (12th Feb 2019), on Liverpool University Campus, with the aim of having an open, respectful discussion on the situation in Venezuela.

10-12 Supporters of the Venezuelan opposition of Juan Guaido came to the meeting with the express purpose of shutting down debate, intimidating the speaker and guests and doing all they could to make sure the meeting did not take place. They were not successful.

As the meeting begun, a Venezuelan Comrade, a supporter of the Bolivarian revolution, was invited to address the room, explain the history of the movement as well as what is taking place today. The opposition arrived together, 10 minutes after the meeting started, making it known who they were and what they were in attendance to do. We made it absolutely clear that everyone would have the democratic right to have their voices heard in a respectful manner after the speaker had introduced the discussion. In spite of this fact the opposition conducted themselves like thugs. They heckled the speaker, shouted over people and got into the faces of Comrades in a very aggressive manner. They were taking photographs of those present to further their intimidatory tactics. After several attempts to calm the situation down and restore order, the opposition continued with their fascistic tactics and went as far as to make threats. At this point we started to eject them from the room. The speaker was openly threatened in Spanish. They continued to argue but, over a period of time we managed to remove these elements from the room and locked the door ensuring the safety of those present. As one of the oppositionists left the room they snatched a phone out of a Comrades hand. The meeting was then able to continue and a discussion was able to take place in spite of attempts to shut us down.

After the meeting, the opposition were seen waiting outside of the venue. After an appeal was made to the meeting, everyone who was present, walked through the guild in solidarity with the speaker and with the help of the Guild staff we ensured that they were able to get home safely.

We would like to thank Comrades of Socialist Appeal, FRFI, all of those in attendance as well as the security staff at the Guild.

The so-called “democratic” opposition have shown themselves for the thugs that they truly are. Although they have attempted to disrupt our meeting tonight, in Venezuela itself this is a life or death struggle and Comrades have been attacked and killed. We must not take this threat to the labour movement lightly. We must stand in solidarity with our working class Comrades in Venezuela, against the coup attempt and continue to mobilise solidarity locally and internationally.

Our resolve and that of our comrades have not been diminished and we will continue to further organise on campus and across Liverpool.

Keep an eye on this page for further details of future activities as part of our campaign.

Hands off Venezuela!!!

https://www.facebook.com/liverpoolmarxists/