Objects placed by opposition protesters block a road in the Altamira neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014. Violence is heating up in Venezuela as an opposition leader faces criminal charges for organizing a rally that set off escalating turmoil in the oil-rich, but economically struggling country. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) (The Associated Press)

Members of a pro-government “colectivo,” or “collective,” march in downtown Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014. President Nicolas Maduro and his supporters say the escalating protests against his socialist government in the oil-rich but economically struggling country are part of an attempted coup sponsored by right-wing and “fascist” opponents in Venezuela and abroad, particularly the United States. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) (The Associated Press)

Demonstrators stand at a barricade during an opposition protest in the Altamira neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014. Venezuelan opposition leaders condemned the government Thursday for its heavy-handed attempt to subdue a protest movement with nighttime sweeps that have turned many parts of the country into dangerous free-fire zones. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) (The Associated Press)

An opposition demonstrator holds a poster that reads in Spanish “They are killing us” outside the Venezuelan Military Industries (CAVIM) in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014. Venezuelan opposition leaders condemned the government Thursday for its heavy-handed attempt to subdue a protest movement with nighttime sweeps that have turned many parts of the country into dangerous free-fire zones. (AP Photo/Alejandro Cegarra) (The Associated Press)

A woman walks next to a graffiti with the portrait of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro and a phrase that reads in Spanish:”They will call me dictator”, downtown in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014. After a chaotic and tense night, with gunfire echoing through the streets of many neighborhoods, violence is heating up in Venezuela as an opposition leader faces criminal charges for organizing a rally that set off escalating turmoil in the oil-rich, but economically struggling country.  (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) (The Associated Press)

CARACAS, Venezuela –  Paratroopers are heading to a Venezuelan border area torn by fierce clashes between police and anti-government protesters, while security forces are being accused of turning many parts of the country into free-fire zones in their bid to silence a rejuvenated movement challenging socialist rule.

President Nicolas Maduro’s opponents charged Thursday that he has unleashed the military, police and civilian militias against those who blame the administration for hardships in a country that is rich in oil but struggling with overheated inflation and one of the world’s worst homicide rates.

Violence has escalated across Venezuela since a Feb. 12 opposition rally that was followed by clashes between young activists and the National Guard in which three people died. At least three more deaths and dozens of injuries have occurred in protest violence since then.

Leopoldo Lopez, the jailed opposition leader who organized the mass rally, was ordered early Thursday to remain in detention to face charges that include arson and criminal incitement.

The unrest has been particularly high in Tachira state, on Venezuela’s western border with Colombia, where anti-government protesters have clashed with police and National Guard units, disrupting life in its capital, San Cristobal.

Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres announced Thursday that a battalion of paratroopers was being sent to Tachira to help bring calm.

“These units will enable the city to function, so food can get in, so people can go about their normal lives. It’s simply meant to restore order,” he said.

San Cristobal Vice Mayor Sergio Vergara, a member of the opposition, disputed that. He said that the government caused the troubles by cracking down on what had been peaceful protests and that as part of its campaign had cut off vital services in the city, including public transportation and the Internet.

Sending 3,000 paratroopers to a city of 600,000 people is “effectively part of an effort at repression being played out by the government across the country,” Vergara said.

National Guard troops and members of pro-government militias have swarmed through the streets of Caracas and other cities firing volleys, at times indiscriminately, in repeated spasms of nighttime violence in recent days.

Henrique Capriles, the two-time presidential candidate of an opposition coalition, said the government is engaging in “brutal repression,” in some cases breaking into apartment buildings to arrest people authorities accuse of being part of a plot for a coup against Maduro.

“What does the government want, a civil war?” Capriles asked at a news conference.

While several large demonstrations by thousands of people have been peaceful, smaller groups of protesters have lobbed fire bombs and rocks and blocked streets with flaming barricades of trash. Troops and police have responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and blasts from water cannons —  as well as raids by gun-firing men from motorcycles.

The clashes with authorities as well as the pursuit of anti-government activists by troops and militias take place in darkness. During the day, Caracas has largely operated as normal, with businesses and schools open and people going about their business, while stocking up on groceries in case of further unrest.

Tensions could be high Friday in the city of Valencia, where a funeral was scheduled for a local beauty queen who was killed by a bullet this week while participating in a protest. The death of Genesis Carmona, a 22-year-old university student who had been Miss Tourism 2013 for Carabobo state, reverberated in this country that prizes beauty queens.

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Associated Press writers Fabiola Sanchez and Andrew Rosati in Caracas and Vivian Sequera in Bogota, Colombia, contributed to this report.

CARACAS, Venezuela –  Venezuelans are bracing for trouble as both supporters of the government and the opposition prepare for major rallies in a country that has been roiled by violence in recent days.

Women supporters of President Nicolas Maduro are planning a march Saturday in the capital of Caracas. The opposition says it will also hold large rallies throughout the country.

Opposition Gov. Henrique Capriles says these are intended as peaceful protests to show public discontent over high crime, food shortages and other problems facing Venezuela. President Maduro has said the wave of protests and violent clashes that began Feb. 12 are part of a right-wing attempt to topple his socialist government.

Political violence is blamed for at least eight deaths and more than 100 injuries on both sides.