Toll in Venezuela's violent protests reaches 62

The death toll in the violent Venezuelan protests has increased to 62 amid escalating tensions provoked by the government's call to rewrite the Constitution.

The latest victim of the violence that started in April, is a woman killed at a protest in Lara state, the Public Ministry said on Friday.

"The ministry has commissioned the Lara state prosecutor to investigate the death of Maria Rodriguez, who was shot during a demonstration on Thursday in Iribarren town," Xinhua news agency quoted the ministry as saying.

Some 1,187 people have been injured in the protests since Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro launched an initiative to elect a Constituent Assembly to reform the Constitution.

It has been badly received by the opposition which claimed it was another attempt by the executive to hold onto power.