Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, 42, surrendered to security forces on Tuesday to face charges of creating unrest against President Nicolas Maduro's government which has left four people dead in the last week, according to Reuters.
The Harvard-educated economist has spearheaded the protest movement and decided to turn himself in on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
Lopez got into an armored vehicle after a defiant speech to an opposition rally in Caracas on another chaotic day in the South American OPEC member nation, according to Reuters.
"I have nothing to hide," Lopez told protesters through a megaphone before being placed in a military vehicle, Reuters reported.
"I present myself to an unjust judiciary ... May my jailing serve to wake up a people," Lopez added in his speech on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
Lopez was arrested on charges including murder and 'terrorism' but says he is being made a scapegoat by the dictatorial government, Reuters reported.
As military officials transferred him to a black van and drove Lopez away, supporters chanted "Leopoldo, the people are with you," according to Reuters.
Since the beginning of February, student-led protests have multiplied across the nation of 29 million people in the biggest challenge to Maduro since his election last year following Hugo Chavez's death, Reuters reported.
The demonstrators demand Maduro's resignation and are expressing numerous complaints including inflation, crime, corruption and product shortages, according to Reuters.
"The country's in an unsustainable state," filmmaker Jose Sahagun told Reuters. "The government's mask has fallen off. This man (Maduro) has held power for 10 months and the deterioration has been fast."
Compared to protests in Brazil, Ukraine or in the Middle East, Venezuela's protest numbers are small with no sign of Venezuelans joining in the hundreds of thousands to protest, compared to the protests which happened a decade ago, according to Reuters.
There is also no evidence Venezuela's military has plans to turn against Maduro, Reuters reported.
"The armed forces will always be on the side of justice and development of the fatherland," Defense Minister Carmen Melendez said, according to Reuters. "Every act of violence takes us back to intolerance."
Thousands of oil workers and Maduro supporters, clad in the red of the ruling Socialist Party, held their own demonstration on Tuesday with loud music and a party atmosphere, Reuters reported.
"Comrade President Nicolas Maduro can count on the working class," said oil union leader Wills Rangel, according to Reuters.
