Venezuelan courts have ordered 11 student protesters to stand trial, but they have freed more than 150 others arrested with them during raids on their encampments, prosecutors said Sunday, according to Reuters.
The statement from prosecutor's office said the 11 face charges including weapons offenses, criminal association and incitement to violate laws, as well as drug violations, Reuters reported. The statement also said 156 others will be freed, though they will have to report periodically to the courts, with 15 others being sent for treatment of drug use.
Hundreds of police and troops arrested 243 student protesters during pre-dawn raids Thursday on four encampments of protesters opposed to President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government, according to Reuters.
The raid set-off angry clashes in which one police officer was killed, raising the death toll from disturbances that began in February to at least 42, Reuters reported.
Although the government hoped the demolition of four camps in Caracas would snuff out a three-month protest movement, activists vowed the measure had only strengthened their resolve to demonstrate against Maduro, according to Reuters. Students have been camping outside the United Nation offices on a major highway for weeks, as well as in several other public squares.
Anti-Maduro protests have been raging since February, with activists complaining about high inflation and crime rates, scarcities of basic goods, and repression of opponents, Reuters reported.
Maduro, the 51-year-old successor to the late Hugo Chavez, says the demonstrations are part of a wider, U.S.-backed "coup" attempt against him, according to Reuters.
At least 42 people from both sides of the protest have died amid the violence with about 800 injured, Reuters reported. About 160 people remain in jail in total from round-ups since February.
Protests continued through Saturday against the breakup of the student camps, with masked youths battling riot police who again used tear gas to disperse the youths, who were throwing stones and petrol bombs in return in scenes that have become familiar to Venezuelans over the last three months, according to Reuters.
