Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez (pictured) surrendered to authorities at a rally in Caracas Tuesday as his followers gathered for a fresh round of anti-government protests in a plaza surrounded by anti-riot troops.
President Nicolas Maduro last week ordered Lopez’s arrest on charges of homicide and inciting violence after street clashes in the capital left three dead.
The surrender was a dramatic move following two weeks of protests in the country, spearheaded by students who are angry over rampant crime, deteriorating living conditions and the arrests of demonstrators.
The government banned Tuesday’s opposition march after Lopez said he would use it to surrender. Defying the ban, thousands of Lopez’s supporters turned out dressed in white at the Plaza Brion after he called for the march in a video message on Sunday.
Lopez, also in white, suddenly emerged in the crowd, climbing a statue of Cuban independence hero Jose Marti with a Venezuelan flag. After delivering a brief message to his cheering supporters, he surrendered to the National Guard.
“I present myself before an unjust justice, before a corrupt justice,” said the 42-year-old Harvard-educated economist.
“If my incarceration serves to wake up a people … my infamous incarceration will have been worth it,” he said to an explosion of cheers from the crowd.
He calmly walked under escort to a National Guard vehicle as his supporters pressed in around the vehicle, blocking its path.
Shouts of “Freedom, Freedom!” and “It’s going to fall, it’s going to fall; this corrupt government is going to fall” rose from the crowd.
Lopez himself got on the loudspeaker from within the vehicle to appeal for calm.
Three rings of national police – backed by a second line of National Guard anti-riot troops with light armoured vehicles – were positioned around the plaza.
The government summoned its followers to rallies of its own in an area of downtown Caracas where the opposition march was to end, raising the risk of a violent confrontation with rival protesters.
wirestory
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