Near the square where the president signed, his supporters fired exploding firework rockets directly into surrounding apartments where anti-Chavez protesters had beaten pots and pans on balconies, witnesses said.
Brushing aside opinion polls that show two out of three Venezuelans would vote him out in a referendum, Chavez insists he will win and serve out his term until the end of 2006.
Chavez's foes accuse him of ruling like a dictator and of trying to install Cuba-style communism. He says his self-styled "revolution," including cheap credits and land grants for the poor, seeks to distribute Venezuela's oil wealth more equally. ***