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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <font
size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://sputniknews.com/us/201905161075059512-police-venezuela-embassy/">https://sputniknews.com/us/201905161075059512-police-venezuela-embassy/</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">US Police Break Into Venezuela Embassy
in DC, Arrest Four Activists</h1>
16:35 16.05.2019</div>
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<p>Police have been sieging the Venezuelan Embassy in
Washington, DC despite resistance from activists
supporting the diplomatic mission loyal to the country's
elected President Nicolas Maduro and accusations of
violating the untouchable status of the embassy.</p>
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<p>US police have broken into the Venezuelan Embassy
in Washington, DC and arrested four protesters from the
Embassy Protection Collective, according to Medea
Benjamin, an activist from the anti-war group CODEPINK.
Among the four who were arrested during the raid are
anti-war activists Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers. A
US Secret Service spokesman confirmed that it had helped
Department of State's Diplomatic Security arrest the
remaining Embassy Protection Collective protesters
inside the Venezuelan Embassy.</p>
<p>"This morning, US Secret Service Uniformed Division
Officers assisted US Department of State Diplomatic
Security Service Special Agents in executing federal
arrests warrants against individuals who were inside the
Venezuelan Embassy", the Secret Service statement said.</p>
<p>Benjamin cited Venezuela's Deputy Foreign Minister
Carlos Ron as denouncing the US actions as a violation
of the Vienna Conventions and slamming the arrest
of Embassy Protection Collective members.</p>
<p>"We call on the US government to sign a Protecting
Power Agreement to ensure the integrity of our Embassy
in DC and the US Embassy in Caracas. We do not authorise
any of the coup representatives to enter the Embassy",
he was quoted as saying by the CODEPINK activist.</p>
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<blockquote data-link-color="#069"
data-conversation="none">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">The press and a handful
of activists have converged at the back of the
building on 29th St. This is where a walkway to the
back courtyard and the underground garage lead.
Consensus seems to be police may bring any detainees
out this way. Street is blocked. <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/VenezuelaEmbassy?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#VenezuelaEmbassy</a>
<a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DC?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DC</a>
<a href="https://t.co/mpiBBGgwy8">pic.twitter.com/mpiBBGgwy8</a></p>
— Marissa J. Lang (@Marissa_Jae) <a
href="https://twitter.com/Marissa_Jae/status/1129025336216346624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May
16, 2019</a></blockquote>
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<p>CODEPINK activists' reports were later confirmed by a
Washington Post reporter on the scene, who heard one
of the protesters guarding the embassy call out a window
that police are after them. The reporter spotted an
ambulance approaching the embassy's garage and
paramedics rolling out stretchers. So far, no injuries
have been reported among the protesters.</p>
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<blockquote data-link-color="#069">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Antiwar and <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/climate?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#climate</a>
activists <a
href="https://twitter.com/KBZeese?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KBZeese</a>
and Margaret Flowers and two other people opposed
to the Trump administration's policies on Venezuela
have been arrested by police who entered the
Venezuelan embassy in violation of the Vienna
Convention. <a href="https://t.co/HbqIEBGqay">pic.twitter.com/HbqIEBGqay</a></p>
— Mark Hand (@MarkFHand) <a
href="https://twitter.com/MarkFHand/status/1129021930667954176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May
16, 2019</a></blockquote>
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<p>The activists from the Embassy Protection Collective
have been living inside the embassy since 10 April in a
bid to protect it from US attempts to seize the facility
and hand it over to supporters of Venezuelan opposition
leader Juan Guaido. The group was invited by the
embassy's Venezuelan diplomats, who were forced to leave
US soil.</p>
<p>Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro earlier slammed US
attempts to seize the property of the country's embassy,
pointing to its "inviolability" under international
treaties regulating the activities of diplomatic
missions.</p>
<p><a
href="https://sputniknews.com/latam/201905161075044550-venezuela-tried-talk-washington-dc-embassy/"
target="_blank"><strong>READ MORE:</strong> Venezuela
Tried to Talk to US Authorities About Washington
Embassy Issue — Envoy</a></p>
<p>Relations between the US and Venezuela have been
spiralling downward since Washington recognised Juan
Guaido's claim to be the Latin American state's interim
president and supported his aspirations to oust
democratically elected President Maduro. The latter has
slammed Guaido as a "US-puppet" attempting to conduct a
coup in Venezuela.</p>
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