Woman march in Venezuelan capital against socialist govt

An anti-government protesters covers her mouth with a zipper during a women march against repression in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, May 6, 2017. Weeks of violent protests calling on President Nicolas Maduro to step down have left dozens of people dead. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano) (The Associated Press)

Anti-government protesters raise their hands during a women march against repression and calling on President Nicolas Maduro to step down in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, May 6, 2017. Weeks of violent protests asking for Maduro's ouster have lefts dozens of people dead. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano) (The Associated Press)

An anti-government wearing a Wayuu Indians dress kneels in front of riot police blocking a women march from reaching the Foreign Ministry in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, May 6, 2017. Thousands of women wearing white and carrying flowers marched to ask for a stop of repression and to pay tribute to those who were killed in weeks of demonstrations calling on President Nicolas Maduro to step down. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos) (The Associated Press)

Women are massing in Caracas to protest the increasingly embattled socialist government as part of what the opposition members are calling a march against repression.

Police in riot gear again took control of major roads in the city as a protest movement entered its sixth week. The government also plans a counter women's march in the city's downtown.

Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez on Friday denounced the protest movement, and said protesters were attempting a kind of nonconventional warfare.

Local news media on Friday carried a video circulating on Twitter that showed residents pulling down a statue of late President Hugo Chavez in the western state of Zulia. The media reported that students destroyed the statue as part of the larger protest movement.