Updated

People in the western Venezuelan city of San Cristobal say National Guard troops have attacked and dismantled barricades that protesters had raised at key intersections.

Local TV journalist Beatriz Font and other witnesses say guardsmen fired a lot of tear gas, including at nearby residential buildings. They say the attack began before midnight and continued into early Monday.

Font said the guardsmen had broken windows and several people reported from apartment buildings near the intersections that children and elderly people were being affected by the gas.

San Cristobal is where the current wave of anti-government unrest began early last month and has seen some of the most determined resistance.