Protesters march toward the presidential palace after Maduro declares victory

Thousands of Venezuelans are marching on the presidential palace in Caracas to protest President Nicolás Maduro’s claim of victory in the country’s disputed election.

Others posted pictures of the crowd on social media with captions such as “down with the dictator” and “everyone go to Miraflores” – where the palace is located.

The BBC witnessed an armed military convoy moving towards the presidential palace, with hooded soldiers standing at the back of the vehicle carrying large rifles.

Police fired tear gas as protests erupted in the Venezuelan capital a day after Mr Maduro declared victory.

The opposition has rejected claims that Mr Maduro’s victory was fraudulent and said their candidate Edmundo González won convincingly with 73.2% of the vote.

Pre-election polls showed a clear victory for the opponent.

Opposition parties have united behind Mr González in his bid to oust President Maduro after 11 years in power, amid widespread discontent over the country’s economic crisis.

Several Western and Latin American countries, as well as international organizations including the United Nations, have called on Venezuelan authorities to release voting records from each polling station.

Earlier, many people banged pots and pans from their homes and on the streets – one group stood outside in the pouring rain chanting “Afuera” (Out) and “Libertad” (Freedom).

Footage showed burning tyres on the highway and crowds of people pouring into the streets, while police on motorbikes fired tear gas.

A large military and police presence, including water cannons, was on the streets of Caracas in an attempt to disperse protesters and prevent them from reaching the presidential palace.

There were also several groups of Maduro supporters gathered as well as paramilitary forces supporting Maduro.

The BBC spoke to several people attending a protest in a densely populated area known as La Lucha, which means “the fight”.

Paola Sarzalejo, 41, said the vote was “terrible, fraudulent. We won with 70%, but they did the same thing to us again. They took the election away from us again.

“We want a better future for the young generation and for our country.”

Her father, Miguel, 64, agreed, saying: “He lost the election, he has no right to be there right now.”

“We want a better future for our young people because otherwise they will leave the country. A future where they can do good jobs and earn a lot of money. We have a rich country and he is destroying everything,” he added.

“If all the young people leave, Venezuela will have only old people, only old people.”

Cristobal Martinez, who was draped in a Venezuelan flag, said he thought the election was a “fraud”.

He said most young people in La Lucha and surrounding areas voted in an election that was particularly important for young people because “many of us are unemployed” and “most of us are uneducated”.

“It was my first time voting in my life. I was there from six in the morning until about nine in the morning and I saw a lot of people gathered in the streets.

“There is a lot of dissatisfaction with the government. Most people are involved in making change.”

He said that although President Maduro has been in office for a long time, “nothing has changed” and the situation “has gotten worse since President Chavez passed away.”

He accused some older people who sympathise with the government of living on bonuses or food stamps while “we want change, we want decent jobs, a good future for the country”.

Mr Martinez said he wanted “people from other countries to help us… so that disasters don’t happen like before”.

Mr Maduro accused the opposition of calling for a coup by contesting the results. “This is not the first time we have faced what we are facing today,” he said.

“They are trying to impose a fascist and counter-revolutionary coup in Venezuela once again.”

Venezuela’s attorney general warned that blocking roads or violating any law related to the protests would be severely punished, and 32 people were arrested on charges ranging from destroying election materials to inciting violence.

Meanwhile, senior US administration officials said the published results “do not match the data we receive through the rapid count mechanism and other sources, which suggests that the published results may be at odds with how people voted.”

That, they added, was “a major source of our concern”.

“That is why we are asking the Venezuelan electoral authorities to release the underlying data that supports the numbers they have published.”

The United States, however, has yet to learn what the results mean for its sanctions policy toward Venezuela. Officials have stressed that while they are skeptical about the results, President Maduro has called an election and allowed an opposition candidate to be on the ballot — even though the opposition leader is barred from running.