Venezuela inmates at the Barinas prison staged a protest on Sunday, piling flaming mattresses on the roof to demand the removal of the facility’s director, but they accused him of overseeing guards who shot unarmed prisoners, according to The Guardian.

Prisoners Call for Justice and Director’s Removal

“We want justice. They are shooting us, the guards and the wardens,” a prisoner said in a video shared by the Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons, a local NGO, on X. The video showed a man with a bullet wound in his chest.

Inmates claimed they were peacefully protesting when prison staff opened fire, leaving some wounded. Venezuelan authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

Smoke and Chaos at the Barinas Prison

Large columns of smoke from burning mattresses and sheets rose from the prison, located about 500km (310 miles) from Caracas. Inmates gathered on the roof, chanting, “No more torture!” and hanging “SOS” banners.

Prisoners called for the removal of the prison’s director in videos shared by the observatory. They said their clothes had been taken away and they had been banned from receiving visits.

Inmates’ family members clashed outside the prison with National Guard officers, who were armed with riot shields. The family members attempted to stop the officers from entering the prison but were unsuccessful. They told the Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons they heard screams and explosions minutes afterward.

Yelitza Arrollo told AFP news agency that she has not heard from her son, an inmate at the prison, since May 8. “They are suffering,” she said outside the prison. “We want the director removed.”

Human Rights Watchdog Documents the Events

The Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons said it was documenting the events and reporting them to human rights watchdogs. It said about 1,200 men and more than 100 women incarcerated at the prison had joined the strike.

Venezuelan prisons have come under international scrutiny after the government of the interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, passed a law to release hundreds of people considered political prisoners. In January, the US attacked Caracas and captured the then president, Nicolás Maduro.

With Reuters and Agence France-Presse.