One day after a swell of violence accompanied protests in the streets of Caracas, Venezuelans across the political divide are busy pointing fingers as to who to blame for the outbursts that left three dead.

The opposition political party Popular Will places the blame squarely on the back of the Nicolas Maduro administration. Most eyewitness reports say that the violence began with armed pro-government vigilantes arriving at the scene and proceeding to open fire into the crowd.

The government responded on Thursday with an arrest warrant being issued for Leopoldo Lopez, the leader of the Popular Will Party. Maduro says the incident was staged as part of a broader conspiracy to ignite a civil war in the South American country.

"I want to alert the world. We are facing a developing coup plan against the democracy and the government that I preside over, orchestrated by a small group of irresponsible leaders, violent, full of hatred and personal ambitions," Maduro said, according to CNN.

It was the largest flare-up of violence in Venezuela since the election of Maduro after the death of Hugo Chavez last year. While the violence has subsided, there remains an undercurrent of discontent in Venezuela. The protests were scheduled for Wednesday to coincide with Venezuela's national Youth Day as a high percentage of the anti-Maduro movement are young Venezuelans looking for change.

"Venezuela is waking up," one young protester told Euronews. "We've had enough of so much insecurity and repression on the part of the state's public authorities and we're tired and we're showing it on Feb. 12."

The incident has garnered the attention of Human Rights Watch, who is calling on the government to investigate the violence impartially, instead of simply issuing arrest warrants for opposition leaders.

"What Venezuela urgently needs is for these killings to be investigated and the killers brought to justice, no matter their political affiliation," said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. "What Venezuela does not need is authorities scapegoating political opponents or shutting down news outlets whose coverage they don't like."