CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Hundreds of supporters of Venezuelan
                  President Hugo Chavez took to the streets Tuesday to demand the
                  dissolution of Congress.

                  Some of the protesters blocked the entrance to Congress and attacked the
                  leader of Venezuela's lower house as he tried to leave the building.

                  The people hit and shoved Rep. Henrique Capriles, president of the
                  Chamber of Deputies, before security forces escorted him to safety. The
                  crowd shouted, "Dissolve Congress! The people are furious!"

                  Chavez, a former army paratrooper who led a bloody putsch seven years
                  ago, threatened this week to support the dissolution of Congress, declare a
                  state of emergency and rule by decree.

                  His comments touched off a storm of controversy and provoked a sharp
                  rebuke Monday from the Supreme Court, which demanded that Chavez
                  "cease his disrespectful and hostile attitude."

                  After Venezuela's main opposition party, Democratic Action, urged the
                  international community to intervene to help preserve democracy, Chavez on
                  Monday called the party's leaders "a bunch of dying poisonous vipers."

                  The protesters outside Congress on Tuesday took up the same theme,
                  chanting, "Vipers, your time has come!"

                  "We feel that they want to block Chavez. Let them wake up and abandon
                  Congress," said retired Air Force Capt. Francisco Molina, 58, who was
                  among the protesters.

                  Chavez took office Feb. 2 after winning election on an anti-corruption,
                  anti-establishment platform. He says he wants to bring a "social revolution"
                  to Venezuela, but his opponents fear he will install a dictatorship.

                  The president has capitalized on widespread discontent with traditional
                  political parties, which many Venezuelans blame for squandering the
                  country's vast oil wealth. Well over half the population of 23 million lives in
                  poverty.

                  Some fear the former coup leader may be unleashing social unrest that will
                  soon spiral out of control. Since Chavez became president, thousands of
                  poor families have illegally occupied private properties, and the president has
                  refused to call in the National Guard to evict them.

                  On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Jose Vicente Rangel held a breakfast meeting
                  with foreign reporters to try to calm the waters.

                  "Chavez is not going to dissolve the Congress, nor is he going to dissolve the
                  Supreme Court," he said, adding that human rights such as freedom of
                  expression will be respected in the Chavez administration.

                  On March 27, Congress approved a bill granting Chavez sweeping new
                  powers to manage the country's recession-hit economy, but the president
                  vetoed the law last week, saying it didn't go far enough.

                  Congress convened Tuesday to discuss Chavez's demand for greater
                  powers. Just seconds before he was attacked, Rep. Capriles said
                  lawmakers are ready "to support and cooperate with the president."

                    Copyright 1999 The Associated Press.