Syria rebel commanders reject leadership shakeup

February 19, 2014

BEIRUT (AP) — The former leader of the Western-backed Syrian opposition's military wing on Wednesday rejected his recent dismissal, and along with more than a dozen senior insurgent commanders severed ties with the political opposition-in-exile, further fragmenting the notoriously divided rebel movement.

The statement from Gen. Salim Idris comes two days after the opposition Syrian National Coalition announced that Idris had been sacked as head of the Supreme Military Council and replaced by Brig. Gen. Abdul-Ilah al-Bashir — an experienced, moderate field commander from southern Syria. The move was widely seen as an attempt to restructure the military council and to persuade Western allies to boost their support for mainstream rebels trying to oust President Bashar Assad.

Moderate opposition fighters have been eclipsed over the past year by ultraconservative Islamic groups and extremist factions that have emerged as the most powerful brigades on the rebel side. But the move also holds the potential to further fracture rebel ranks and sap what little strength the military council currently has.

In a video posted online Wednesday, Idris said that after consulting with forces inside Syria, he and the 15 other signatories of the statement were breaking ties with the council and the opposition's political leadership.

"We stress that all that emanates from them does not concern us in any way," he said, reading from the statement. Sitting at the head of a table and flanked by men dressed in fatigues, Idris said he has been asked to overhaul the rebel military leadership, and called on all rebel forces on the ground to rally under his command. He also accused some members of the political and military opposition of making decisions based on "individual and personal interests."

Most of the other men in the video could not be immediately identified, but among the statement's signatories were regional front commanders. It was not clear what impact Idris' break with the council and the political opposition abroad would have, or whether the rift caused by the general's dismissal could be mended.

But the Coalition sought to head off any dispute over the council's leadership, issuing a statement late Wednesday reaffirming al-Bashir's appointment. It also confirmed that al-Bashir was assuming his new duties immediately.

Still, Charles Lister, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center, described Idris' move as a potentially significant development. "He appears to enjoy the support of a wide range of senior commanders whose zones of command cross Syria," Lister said by email. "Until the dust settles, this essentially leaves Syria with two military opposition councils," — one under Idris and another al-Bashir.

And the longer the division continues, he said, "the more dangerous it could be for the long-term viability of the SMC." Idris was named the head of the Supreme Military Council shortly after it was formed in late 2012. During his time in command, Idris, a secular-leaning moderate, was criticized by many in the opposition for being ineffective and lost the confidence of the U.S. and its allies, particularly after Islamic extremists seized a weapons depot from moderate rebels.

Washington and its European allies have long tried to mold the Council's Free Syrian Army into an effective partner inside Syria. But the loose umbrella group was always seen as weak, with Western and Arab allies dithering over whether to give them powerful weapons. The group eventually fell into disarray and in the past year has been overshadowed by more powerful Islamic groups and the rise of al-Qaida-inspired extremist factions.

Inside Syria, meanwhile, an official with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent said aid workers have evacuated 11 more people, mostly Christians, from besieged areas in the central city of Homs. Khaled Erksoussi, head of operations for the Red Crescent, said the 11 left rebel-held districts in Old Homs that have been under government blockade for more than a year. Government and rebel fighters are battling for control of Homs, Syria's third largest city.

More than 1,000 people have been evacuated from Homs since a humanitarian truce went into effect on Feb.7.

Associated Press writer Zeina Karam contributed to this report.

Syria drives rebels from site of alleged killings

February 18, 2014

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian government troops have regained full control of a village in the central province of Hama after ousting rebels accused of killing dozens of people there, state media said as activists reported army reinforcements in the south on Tuesday.

State news agency SANA said government troops took control of the village of Maan on Monday after destroying the last "hideouts of terrorists, who came into the village and committed a massacre." Syria refers to rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar Assad as terrorists. The nearly 3-year-old conflict has become increasingly sectarian, pitting Sunni Muslim rebels against Assad's government that is predominantly Alawite, a sect of Shiite Islam.

Opposition activists have also reported sectarian killings in Maan earlier this month. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 40 people, mostly members of the minority Alawite sect had been killed when hard-line, anti-Assad Islamic fighters overran the village Feb.9.

In southern Syria, the army was reinforcing its positions in an effort to dislodge rebels from the area near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Rami Abdurrahman, the Observatory's head, said there is heavy fighting in the hilly area just south of Quinetra city, the capital of the province known by the same name. He said the army is bringing more tanks, heavy artillery and troops to the region that has been under control of hard-line Islamic rebel groups for months.

The government's apparent showdown with the rebels in the south comes a day after Syrian opposition named a news military chief. Brig. Gen. Abdul-Ilah al-Bashir hails from southern Syria and was an army commander in Quinetra until 2012 when defected to the opposition.

The Observatory also reported heavy government shelling of Yabroud, the last rebel-held town near Syria's border with Lebanon. Yabroud is located in the mountainous Qalamoun region. Government troops, backed by Lebanese Hezbollah fighters have been on a crushing offensive there since early December, trying to sever a main thoroughfare for rebels from Lebanon.

Saudi threatens to isolate Qatar for its support of Muslim Brotherhood

Thursday, 20 February 2014

Saudi Arabia has threatened to close its border and airspace with Qatar if Doha doesn't stop supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Arab newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The London-based newspaper, which is considered to be very close to the decision-makers in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, said a Saudi official had delivered the urgent message from the Saudi government to the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani. The message included a "threat" that Riyadh is reviewing its relations with Doha. This could cause a significant change that may lead to the freezing of the relationship.

Saudi Arabia issued the warning saying it is running out of patience towards Qatar's policies with regards supporting the Muslim Brotherhood movement and breaching the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)'s guidelines for the policies and positions, particularly towards Egypt.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia believes that the Emir of Qatar did not abide by the agreement he signed in a summit in Riyadh in the presence of the Emir of Kuwait two months ago, to stop the use of the Qatari soil in actions that harm the Kingdom.

Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, King of Saudi Arabia, had the emir of Qatar write the vow and sign it in the presence of the Emir of Kuwait because he had doubts about the Qatari's commitment to the agreement, as had happened in previous agreements conducted with him and his father, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani .

Saudi accuses its neighbor of supporting the Houthis in Yemen with money and weapons through one of the Sheikhs of the Qatari royal family, as well as supporting the Muslim Brotherhood in the Kingdom through the Qatari Sheikh himself.

This Saudi threat coincides with a similar Egyptian threat that was expressed by the Egyptian Foreign Minister Dr Nabil Fahmy, who said, "We reject the Qatari stance, in form and content, and there should not be any intervention in internal Egyptian affairs."

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Egypt have participated in supporting a coup attempt in Qatar in 1996 which did not succeed. Qatari forces loyal to the ousted Prince crept, under the supervision of Egyptian and Saudi officers, in to Qatari land in order to oust Prince Hamad Bin Khalifa and return his father Sheikh Khalifa to power.

Saudi has threatened to shut its land border with Qatar, which means controlling Qatar entirely, because it does not have any territorial access to the world except through the Saudi port, preventing it from using Saudi airspace and withdrawing the licenses of Qatar Airways to operate flights between Saudi Arabian cities.

Al-Arab newspaper said Mosaed Al-Ayban, Saudi Arabia's Secretary of State, has made several trips to Gulf capitals to inform their leaders about the measures his government expect to take against Qatar.

Observers noted that Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar, joined the meeting of foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Kuwait beside the Emir of Kuwait, in an unprecedented step, which confirms Qatar seeks the help of Kuwait.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/9875-saudi-threatens-to-isolate-qatar-for-its-support-of-muslim-brotherhood.

Tearful Korean reunions begin; first since 2010

February 20, 2014

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Their backs stooped, dozens of elderly North and South Koreans separated for six decades reunited Thursday, weeping and embracing in a rush of words and emotion. The reunions come during a rare period of detente between the rival Koreas and are all the more poignant because the participants will part again in a few days, likely forever.

About 80 South Koreans traveled through falling snow with their families to North Korea's Diamond Mountain resort to meet children, brothers, sisters, spouses and other relatives. Seoul had said about 180 North Koreans were expected.

South Korean TV showed old women in brightly-colored traditional hanbok dresses talking and hugging, families trading photographs of relatives who couldn't attend or had died. Two men in suits and ties wiped away tears, grasped each other by the necks and pressed their foreheads together as cameras flashed. One old man was wheeled in on a stretcher, his head propped on a pillow, a blue blanket wrapped tightly around him.

These meetings — the first in more than three years because of high tensions — are a vivid reminder that despite 60 years of animosity, misunderstanding, threats and occasional artillery exchanges, the world's most heavily armed border divides a single people.

The reunion came too late for 90-year-old Seo Jeong-suk, who died in South Korea just 15 days ago. Her daughter Kim Yong-ja, 68, sobbed as she handed her long-lost sister a framed photograph of Seo. Kim Yong Sil clasped the photo to her heart and said, "It's mom's photo."

For some other families, aging and illness did not thwart the reunions but made them bittersweet. "Sister, why can't you hear me?" North Korean Ri Jong Sil, 84, asked 87-year-old Lee Young-sil, who has difficulty recognizing people because of Alzheimer's disease, according to South Korean media pool reports.

Tears flowed down Ri's deeply wrinkled face as Lee's daughter began sobbing, telling her mother: "Mom, it's my aunt. It's my aunt. She's your sister." The difference in the sisters' family name is a product of the Korean Peninsula's division: It's basically the same family name but each country uses different spelling rules in both Korean and English.

Ri Chol Ho, 77, from North Korea, used a piece of paper to communicate with his 81-year-old brother from South Korea, Lee Myeong-ho, who has a hearing problem. "Mother used to tell me that you would return home and buy me a pair of rubber shoes," Ri wrote on the paper that he passed to his brother, according to the pool reports.

These Koreans are the lucky few. Millions have been separated from loved ones by the tumult and bloodshed of the three-year war that ended in 1953. During a previous period of inter-Korean rapprochement, about 22,000 Koreans had brief reunions — 18,000 in person and the others by video. None got a second chance to reunite, Seoul says.

The reunions were arranged after impoverished North Korea began calling recently for better ties with South Korea, in what outside analysts say is an attempt to win badly needed foreign investment and aid. The North, however, sent mixed signals by threatening to scrap the reunions to protest annual military drills between Seoul and Washington set to start Monday.

Many in Seoul are also wary after last year's springtime threats from Pyongyang of nuclear strikes against Seoul and Washington. North Korea in recent years has conducted nuclear and missile tests, and is blamed for attacks in 2010 that killed 50 South Koreans.

Last week, North Korea decided to honor its earlier promise to allow the reunions after South Korea agreed to Pyongyang's proposal that the rivals stop insulting each other. In South Korea, there are still worries that the reunions might be disrupted because of the impending military drills.

The reunions are broken into two parts. Thursday's reunions end Saturday. A second group of about 360 South Koreans plans to visit the mountain resort Sunday to meet with 88 elderly North Koreans. Those reunions end Tuesday.

Both governments ban their citizens from visiting each other or even exchanging letters, phone calls and emails. In Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, many people had heard of the plan to hold the reunions on the television news or other state media. "I desperately hope for reunification. We are of the same blood and getting these families together will help national reunification," said 63-year old Jang Hye Sun.

The two Koreas have been in a near-constant standoff since an armistice ended the Korean War. It hasn't been replaced with a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula still technically in a state of war. About 28,000 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea to help deter aggression from North Korea.

In 2000, South Korea created a computerized lottery system for South Koreans hoping for reunions, and since then nearly 130,000 people, most in their 70s or older, have entered. Only about 70,000 are still alive. It's not known how North Korea selects people who attend reunions. South Korean media reported that the North usually chooses those loyal to its authoritarian government.

According to pool reports, it was only through the application process that 93-year-old Kang Neung-hwan even realized that he had left a son behind when he left North Korea during the war. Kang Jong Kuk, now 64, had been in his mother's womb at the time, and his father had not been aware that she was pregnant.

And when they finally met Thursday, the elder Kang could not resist a little gentle teasing. "You look old," he told his son. "Come give me a hug."

AP writers Kwon Su Hyeon in Seoul and Eric Talmadge in Pyongyang, North Korea, contributed to this report.

Scores killed in deadly Ukraine day of protest

February 21, 2014

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Protesters advanced on police lines in the heart of the Ukrainian capital on Thursday, prompting government snipers to shoot back and kill scores of people in the country's deadliest day since the breakup of the Soviet Union a quarter-century ago.

The European Union imposed sanctions on those deemed responsible for the violence, and three EU foreign ministers held a long day of talks in Kiev with both embattled President Viktor Yanukovych and leaders of the protests seeking his ouster. But it's increasingly unclear whether either side has the will or ability to compromise.

Yanukovych and the opposition protesters are locked in a battle over the identity of Ukraine, a nation of 46 million that has divided loyalties between Russia and the West. Parts of the country — mostly in its western cities — are in open revolt against Yanukovych's central government, while many in eastern Ukraine back the president and favor strong ties with Russia, their former Soviet ruler.

Protesters across the country are also upset over corruption in Ukraine, the lack of democratic rights and the country's ailing economy, which just barely avoided bankruptcy with a $15 billion aid infusion from Russia.

Despite the violence, defiant protesters seemed determined to continue their push for Yanukovych's resignation and early presidential and parliamentary elections. People streamed toward the square Thursday afternoon as other protesters hurled wood, refuse and tires on barricades.

"The price of freedom is too high. But Ukrainians are paying it," said Viktor Danilyuk, a 30-year-old protester. "We have no choice. The government isn't hearing us." In an effort to defuse the situation, the national parliament late Thursday passed a measure that would prohibit an "anti-terrorist operation" threatened by Yanukovych to restore order, and called for all Interior Ministry troops to return to their bases. But it was unclear how binding the move would be. Presidential adviser Marina Stavnichuk was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying the measure goes into effect immediately, but that a mechanism for carrying it out would have to be developed by the president's office and the Interior Ministry.

At least 101 people have died this week in the clashes in Kiev, according to protesters and Ukrainian authorities, a sharp reversal in three months of mostly peaceful protests. Now neither side appears willing to compromise.

Thursday was the deadliest day yet at the sprawling protest camp on Kiev's Independence Square, also called the Maidan. Snipers were seen shooting at protesters there — and video footage showed at least one sniper wearing a Ukraine riot police uniform.

One of the wounded, volunteer medic Olesya Zhukovskaya, sent out a brief Twitter message — "I'm dying" — after she was shot in the neck. Dr. Oleh Musiy, the medical coordinator for the protesters, said she was in serious condition after undergoing surgery.

Musiy told The Associated Press that at least 70 protesters were killed Thursday and over 500 were wounded in the clashes — and that the death toll could rise further. In addition, three policemen were killed Thursday and 28 suffered gunshot wounds, Interior Ministry spokesman Serhiy Burlakov told the AP.

The National Health Ministry said a total of 75 people died in the clashes Tuesday and Thursday, but did not give a breakdown. Earlier Thursday, however, it said 28 people had died. There was no way to immediately verify any of the death tolls.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, along with his German and Polish counterparts, said after a five-hour meeting with Yanukovych and another with opposition leaders that they discussed new elections and a new government, but gave no details. The three resumed meeting with Yanukovych late Thursday.

"For now, there are no results," said an opposition leader, Vitali Klitschko. Video footage on Ukrainian television showed shocking scenes Thursday of protesters being cut down by gunfire, lying on the pavement as comrades rushed to their aid. Trying to protect themselves with shields, teams of protesters carried bodies away on sheets of plastic or planks of wood.

Protesters were also seen leading policemen, their hands held high, around the sprawling protest camp in central Kiev. Ukraine's Interior Ministry says 67 police were captured in all. An opposition lawmaker said they were being held in Kiev's occupied city hall.

The Interior Ministry said late Thursday that security forces may use force to free the captured police. In Brussels, the 28-nation European Union decided in an emergency meeting Thursday to impose sanctions against those behind the violence in Ukraine, including a travel ban and an asset freeze against some government officials. It was unclear whether the EU would consider any of the opposition figures to also have a share of responsibility in the bloodshed.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke with Russia's President Vladimir Putin and President Barack Obama about the crisis Thursday evening. She briefed them about the trip of the three EU foreign ministers to Kiev, and all three leaders agreed that a political solution needs to be found as soon as possible to prevent further bloodshed.

Saying the U.S. was outraged by the violence, Obama urged Yanukovych in a statement to withdraw his forces from downtown Kiev immediately. He also said Ukraine should respect the right of protest and that protesters must be peaceful.

The White House said U.S. Vice President Joe Biden spoke by telephone with Yanukovych on Thursday afternoon and made clear that the U.S. is prepared to sanction those officials responsible for the violence.

The Kremlin issued a statement with Putin blaming radical protesters and voicing "extreme concern about the escalation of armed confrontation in Ukraine." The Russian leader called for an immediate end to bloodshed and for steps "to stabilize the situation and stop extremist and terrorist actions." He also sent former Russian ombudsman Vladimir Lukin to Ukraine to act as a mediator.

Although the first weeks of the protests were determinedly peaceful, radical elements have become more influential as impatience with the lack of progress grows. In their battles Thursday, those protesters, wearing hard hats and armed with bats and other makeshift weapons, regained some territory on the fringes of Independence Square that police had seized earlier in the week.

One camp commander, Oleh Mykhnyuk, told the AP that protesters threw firebombs at riot police on the square overnight. As the sun rose, police pulled back, protesters followed them and police then began shooting at them, he said.

The Interior Ministry warned Kiev residents to stay indoors because of the "armed and aggressive mood of the people." Yanukovych claimed that police were not armed and "all measures to stop bloodshed and confrontation are being taken." But the Interior Ministry later contradicted that, saying law enforcers were armed as part of an "anti-terrorist" operation.

Russia appears increasingly frustrated with Yanukovych's inability to find a way out of the crisis. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Russia will "try to do our best" to fulfill its financial obligations to Ukraine, but indicated Moscow would hold back on further bailout installments until the crisis is resolved.

"We need partners that are in good shape and a Ukrainian government that is legitimate and effective," he said. Some signs emerged that Yanukovych is losing loyalists. The chief of Kiev's city administration, Volodymyr Makeyenko, announced Thursday he was leaving Yanukovych's Party of Regions.

"We must be guided only by the interests of the people, this is our only chance to save people's lives," he said, adding he would continue to fulfill his duties as long as he had the people's trust. Another influential member of the ruling party, Serhiy Tyhipko, said both Yanukovych and opposition leaders had "completely lost control of the situation."

"Their inaction is leading to the strengthening of opposition and human victims," the Interfax news agency reported him saying. Prior to the clashes Thursday, the Ukrainian Health Ministry said 287 wounded had been hospitalized this week. But protesters who have set up a medical facility in a downtown cathedral so that wounded colleagues would not be snatched away by police say the number of wounded is significantly higher — possibly double or triple that.

The Caritas Ukraine aid group praised the protest medics but said many of the wounded will need long-term care, including prosthetics.

AP reporters Maria Danilova and Yury Uvarov in Kiev and Josh Lederman in Washington contributed to this report.

Ukraine: At least 18 dead as truce collapses

February 20, 2014

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Fierce clashes between police and protesters — some including gunfire — shattered a brief truce in Ukraine's besieged capital Thursday, killing at least 19 people.

The deaths came in a new eruption of violence just hours after the country's embattled president and the opposition leaders demanding his resignation called for a truce and negotiations to try to resolve Ukraine's political crisis.

The two sides are locked in a decades-long battle over the identity of this nation of 46 million, whose loyalties are divided between Russia and the West. Parts of the country— mostly in its western cities — are in open revolt against President Viktor Yanukovych's central government.

An Associated Press reporter saw 18 bodies Thursday laid out on the edge of the sprawling protest encampment in central Kiev, the capital. In addition, one policeman was killed and 28 suffered gunshot wounds Thursday, Interior Ministry spokesman Serhiy Burlakov told the AP.

Those numbers Thursday brought the week's death toll to at least 45 in Kiev. As the violence exploded and heavy smoke from burning barricades at the encampment belched into the sky, the foreign ministers of three European countries met with Yanukovych, after their meeting with the opposition leaders.

Later Thursday in Brussels, the 28-nation European Union was scheduled to hold an emergency meeting on Ukraine, to consider sanctions against those behind the violence. The latest bout of street violence began Tuesday when protesters attacked police lines and set fires outside parliament, accusing Yanukovych of ignoring their demands to enact constitutional reforms that would limit the president's power — a key opposition demand. Parliament, dominated by his supporters, was stalling on taking up a constitutional reform to limit presidential powers.

In a statement early Thursday, the Ukrainian Health Ministry said 28 people have died and 287 have been hospitalized during the two days of street violence. Protesters, who have set up a medical care facility in a downtown cathedral, say the numbers of injured are significantly higher — possibly double or triple that.

A statement from the Interior Ministry on Thursday said the gunfire against officers appeared to be coming from the national music conservatory in Kiev, which is on the edge of the downtown square housing an extensive protest tent camp.

Also Thursday, the parliament building was evacuated because of fears protesters were preparing to storm it, said parliament spokeswoman Irina Karnelyuk. The clashes this week have been the most deadly since protests kicked off three months ago after Yanukovych shelved an association agreement with the European Union in favor of closer ties with Russia. Russia then announced a $15 billion bailout for Ukraine, whose economy is in tatters.

Although the initial weeks of protests were determinedly peaceful, radicals helped drive an outburst of clashes with police in January in which at least three people died, and the day of violence on Tuesday may have radicalized many more.

Political and diplomatic maneuvering has continued, with both Moscow and the West eager to gain influence over this former Soviet republic. Three EU foreign ministers — from Germany, France and Poland — were in Kiev Thursday speaking with both sides.

President Barack Obama also stepped in to condemn the violence, warning Wednesday "there will be consequences" for Ukraine if it continues. The U.S. has raised the prospect of joining with the EU to impose sanctions against Ukraine.

Russia's Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, described the violence as an attempted coup and even used the phrase "brown revolution," an allusion to the Nazi rise to power in Germany in 1933. The ministry said Russia would use "all our influence to restore peace and calm."

Neither side had appeared willing to compromise, with the opposition insisting on Yanukovych's resignation and an early election and the president apparently prepared to fight until the end.

Maria Danilova, Jim Heintz and Yury Uvarov in Kiev contributed to this report.

Venezuela opposition denounces 'brutal repression'

February 21, 2014

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leaders condemned the government Thursday for its heavy-handed attempt to subdue a protest movement with nighttime sweeps that have turned many parts of the country into dangerous free-fire zones.

Police, National Guard troops and members of private militias have swarmed through streets in the capital and elsewhere firing volleys, at times indiscriminately, in repeated spasms of nighttime violence in recent days.

Henrique Capriles, the two-time presidential candidate of an opposition coalition, said the government has engaged in "brutal repression" as it goes after students and other protesters, in some cases breaking into apartment buildings to arrest those it accuses of taking part in a an attempted coup.

"What does the government want, a civil war?" Capriles asked at a news conference. David Smolansky, an opposition mayor of a district in Caracas, said the country is passing through the harshest wave of political persecution in decades with the response to the protests and the jailing of opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez. "If this isn't a totalitarian system then I don't know what can explain what is happening in this country," Smolansky said.

A week of protests, beginning with a mass opposition rally on Feb. 12, has resulted in at least six deaths and more than 100 injuries. While several large demonstrations by thousands of people have been peaceful, smaller groups of protesters have lobbed gas bombs and rocks and blocked streets with flaming barricades of trash. Troops and police have responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and blasts from water cannons — as well as raids by gun-firing men on motorcycle.

Jose Leon, a 20-year-old business student who took part in a demonstration in the Altamira neighborhood of Caracas on Wednesday night, said authorities who roughly detained students and fired tear gas over-reacted to a peaceful protest.

"We've spent years trying for peaceful dialogue. How can you talk with a government that hunts down its own citizens like criminals?" Leon said as he took part in a small protest on Thursday in the same spot.

The clashes with authorities as well as the pursuit of anti-government activists by troops and militias take place in darkness. During the day, the capital has largely operated as normal, with businesses and schools open and people going about their business, while stocking up on groceries in case of further unrest.

President Nicolas Maduro and his supporters say the escalating protests against his socialist government in the oil-rich but economically struggling country are part of an attempted coup sponsored by right-wing and "fascist" opponents in Venezuela and abroad, particularly the United States.

Maduro has vowed to crack down on the protests, particularly in Tachira, on the western border with Colombia, where the unrest has been particularly strong. The interior ministry said Thursday it would send a battalion of paratroopers there to the area restore order.

Interior Minister Migues Rodriguez Torres said that sending troops to the border city of San Cristobal, an opposition stronghold where Maduro has said he would consider imposing martial law, is necessary because unrest has prevented people from going about their daily business. "It's not about militarization, it's simply meant to restore order," he said.

San Cristobal Vice Mayor Sergio Vergara, a member of the opposition, said parts of the city have been without public transportation and the Internet has apparently been shut down in recent days. The presence of some 3,000 troops in a city of 600,000, he said, is "effectively part of an effort at repression being played out by the government across the country."

Earlier Thursday, a judge ruled there was enough evidence to detain Lopez, the opposition leader who surrendered to authorities a day earlier, on charges that include arson and criminal incitement stemming from a massive Feb. 12 rally.

Prosecutors decided not to pursue more serious charges, including homicide and terrorism at a court appearance on a military base outside Caracas. The 42-year-old politician could face at least 10 years in prison.

In a message from his Twitter account, the opposition leader's wife, Lilian Tintori, urged his followers on as she announced the court decision. "Change is within us all," she wrote on his behalf. "Don't give up. I will not."

Throughout Wednesday night, anti-government protesters in Caracas and other cities set trash fires in streets and threw rocks at National Guard troops, who fired tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets.

Gunfire was heard in downtown Caracas while Maduro was on television and videos and photos on social media showed several people with serious injuries and unconscious, but the circumstances and conditions could not be verified.

The crackle of gunfire mixed with the roar of swarms of motorcycles, a combination of police and National Guard troops as well as the pro-government paramilitaries known as "colectivos." In videos circulating on social media, police and guard troops can be seen pursuing protesters in the streets and firing weapons, the shots competing in the night with the sound of citizens banging pots outside their windows in protest and shouting insults.

The opposition is planning marches across the country Saturday to protest the jailing of Lopez as well as well as the rampant crime, shortages of consumer goods and inflation rate of more than 50 percent that has made life difficult for many in the country of nearly 30 million people.

Associated Press writers Fabiola Sanchez and Andrew Rosati in Caracas and Vivian Sequera in Bogota, Colombia, contributed to this report.