Venezuela protests spawn 'tear gas art' competition

http://news.yahoo.com/venezuela-protests-spawn-tear-gas-art-competition-152034947.html



CARACAS (Reuters) - Tear gas canisters fired by the thousands on the streets of Caracas are being transformed into sculptures in a competition seeking to give an artistic twist to this year's anti-government unrest in Venezuela.

The opposition-governed Chacao district, a hotbed of violent clashes between masked protesters and security forces in the capital, is inviting locals to submit creations by the end of this month based on spent canisters found on the streets.

"This initiative seeks to convert instruments of repression into a tool of peaceful protest," reads the council's invitation, which has a photo of a pink flower poking out of a canister.

"This is a symbol of the response of the Chacao municipality's residents to the disproportionate and inhumane acts of repression that have happened in our streets at the hands of the state security forces," the invitation said.