Caracas, Jun 2 (EFE).– The Venezuelan military and police on Thursday used tear gas in Caracas to disperse several groups of protesters who were trying to approach Miraflores Palace, the seat of government, to demonstrate against the scarcity of food and medicine.

A large contingent of heavily armed members of the Bolivarian National Guard and the National Police fired tear gas at the demonstrators.

The crowd was protesting the difficulty of acquiring basic products and to express their rejection of the government’s measures to deal with the deficits in basic products.

The demonstration on Armed Forces Avenue was initially headed in the same direction as a march staged by social movements and Indians that had also approached Miraflores to make known their support for President Nicolas Maduro.

Venezuelans have been enduring a lack of food and medicine that has become more acute over the past two years as well as a serious lack of security reflected in high crime figures.

Among the scarce products are milk, chicken and beef, eggs, coffee, cooking oil, sugar, flour, cornmeal and butter, in addition to cleaning and personal hygiene products.

On Wednesday, there were also protests in the capital while in recent days there have been disturbances in the cities of Valencia, Maracay and Maracaibo.

Venezuela is currently under a state of emergency decreed by Maduro to deal with the crisis and alleged attempts to destabilize his government. EFE