Managua, Apr 21 (IANS): Violent anti-government protests that spread across Nicaragua in response to its social security system reforms have claimed more than five lives in three days of rioting, reports said.

The violence follows the decision of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) government to push through reforms that would apply a five per cent tax to old-age and disability pensions and increase the contributions paid by both employees and employers.

The reforms, which went into effect on Wednesday, were in response to the financial crisis affecting its National Social Security Institute (INSS), The Guardian reported.

Some reports over Friday night put the death toll between five and 10. Consecutive governments have been accused of using the INSS as a source of "petty cash".

Rosario Murillo, the vice-president and wife of President Daniel Ortega, has defended the reforms in national radio address.

Murillo has comparing the protests to "vampires, needing blood to feed their political agendas".

Alleged fraud in electoral processes have allowed Ortega to control the country's national assembly and make important constitutional changes, including his own right to serve more than two terms as president.