Gunfire erupted in the center of Caracas when about 40 military police officers briefly overran the station and tried to force out a commander who a day earlier had arrested an army lieutenant, Caracas Metropolitan Police chief Lazaro Forero told Reuters by telephone.
"The metropolitan police faced off with them and rescued the commander," he said.
There were no immediate reports of injuries although four military officers were arrested, officials said. Local television showed images of an armored police van pockmarked with bullet holes.
It was not clear if the police had returned fire at the soldiers.
Venezuela, the world's No. 5 oil exporter, has been rocked by political conflict for more than a year between Chavez and opponents who accuse him of amassing dictatorial power.
Friday's clash came seven months after President Hugo Chavez ordered the military to temporarily take over the metropolitan police run by anti-Chavez mayor Alfredo Pena.
Chavez, a former paratrooper who survived a coup in April last year, accuses his foes of using the police as a hostile paramilitary force.
Populist Chavez recently threatened to take over control of the 9,000-strong autonomous metropolitan force for the second time after they clashed with his radical supporters during a violent street protest.
Several rival police forces in the capital are run by municipal mayors -- both supporters and opponents of the president -- often leading to confusing law enforcement turf squabbles.
Chavez ordered the Metropolitan Police force to submit to military control last November. The Supreme Court overturned the takeover five weeks later but the Caracas force is still "policed" by army detachments in some of their major stations. [End]