MEXICO CITY, Sept 4, (AP): A global human rights watchdog on Wednesday implicated Venezuelan security forces and pro-government armed groups in killings that occurred during the protests that followed the country’s disputed July presidential election. Human Rights Watch, in a report detailing repressive measures the government unleashed after the vote, asserted that credible evidence gathered and analyzed by researchers, forensic pathologists and arms experts ties Venezuela’s national guard and national police to some of the 24 killings that took place as people protested the outcome of the election.

The organization also concluded that violent gangs aligned with the ruling party also "appear to be responsible” in some of the deaths. Twenty-three of those killed were protesters or bystanders and one was a member of the Bolivarian National Guard. "The repression we are seeing in Venezuela is shockingly brutal,” Juanita Goebertus, the organization’s director for the Americas, said in a statement. "

Concerned governments need to take urgent steps to ensure that people are able to peacefully protest and that their vote is respected.” The organization said it reached its conclusions regarding the killings based on interviews with witnesses, journalists and other sources; reviews of death certificates, videos, photographs; and analyses by forensic pathologists and arms experts. Thousands of people, including minors, took to the streets across Venezuela hours after ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared President Nicolás Maduro the winner of the election.

The protests were largely peaceful, but demonstrators also toppled statues of Maduro’s predecessor, the late fiery leader Hugo Chávez, threw rocks at law enforcement officers and buildings, and burned police motorcycles and government propaganda. Maduro and his ruling party allies, who controlled all aspects of government in the South American government, responded to the demonstrations with full force, carrying out arbitrary detentions, prosecutions as well as a campaign that encourages people to report relatives, neighbors and other acquaintances who participated in the protests or cast doubt on the results.