Venezuela police break up protest camps in Caracas

Venezuelan police have arrested about 250 anti-government protesters after breaking up their camps in the capital, Caracas.

On Thursday, security forces broke up four protest camps in front of the UN offices in the capital and captured 243 protesters, Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres said.

He added that police found a great amount of drugs and hand-made explosives intended for use against the government of President Nicolas Maduro.

Last week security forces arrested 58 foreigners accused of sparking anti-government protests that have rocked the Latin American country for the last three months.

The arrested foreigners included Colombians, an American, a Spaniard and an Arab, the interior minister told a press conference on May 2.

Venezuela has been the scene of pro- and anti-government protests since February 4. The protests broke out in the western city of San Cristobal, where students took to the streets to criticize the country’s crime rate and inflation. The rallies then spread to other cities, including the capital.

Caracas says the opposition seeks to launch a coup d’état against the government with the backing of the United States.