Cop killed in clashes after raids in Venezuela

Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Young people clashed with police in the streets Thursday in an angry response to Venezuelan security forces dismantling four tent cities maintained by anti-government demonstrators, and officials reported one officer killed and another injured.

The bloodshed came after hundreds of police and troops arrested 243 student protesters during pre-dawn raids on camps in front of the offices of the United Nations and in better-off neighborhoods in the capital largely opposed to President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist government.



Dozens of anti-government activists erected barricades throughout the day to express solidarity for the jailed students, setting off clashes with police. One officer was killed and another wounded by gunfire. Maduro said the officer was killed by a sniper while police cleared the streets of debris in the leafy Chacao district where the U.N. office is.

“He was protecting the community of Chacao and was killed vilely by these right-wing assassins,” Maduro said at an event in Caracas to deliver homes to low-income families.

The death brought to 42 the number of people on all sides who’ve been killed since anti-government protests began to roil the South American nation in February.




He said the detainees would be charged, but didn’t say when that would happen. Under Venezuelan law, prosecutors have 48 hours to bring detainees before a judge and either charge or release them, but in recent months officials have often ignored the rules and held protesters incommunicado for longer periods.

















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