Washington, May 18: A US judge has on Friday ordered the immediate release of four activists who were allegedly arrested by the American authorities from the Venezuelan embassy’s premises on Thursday morning in Washington DC.
According to ANI news reports, embassy Protection Collective activists, on April 10, started residing inside the Venezuelan embassy in Washington in a bid to protect the opposition Juan Guaido-led government and the United States from seizing it.
Shortly after US President Donald Trump ordered all non-emergency government employees to leave the Caracas embassy in the wake of the political and economic crisis in Venezuela, according to ANI news reports.
US secret service agents entered the Venezuelan embassy on Monday, ordered all pro-Maduro (embattled Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro) activists to immediately leave the premises or else face imprisonment and prosecution. About four activists refused the threats and continued to stay in the premises, which were later detained by the US law enforcement officials.
The US law enforcement has begun the process of trying to remove protesters from the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington DC, a US state department official said.
The eviction process on Monday came after a group of American anti-war activists began moving into the embassy last month.
Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, the collective’s legal counsel, has outlined Washington had not charged those four activists with trespassing, Sputnik reported.
Also read:
- Venezuelan President Maduro orders to boost security at US embassy in Caracas
- US forces raid Venezuelan embassy in Washington to remove pro-Maduro activists defending it from ‘illegal seizure’