KARACHI: Dozens of protesters demonstrated in front of the Karachi Press Club on Sunday to condemn the United States’ military intervention in Venezuela and the capture of president Nicolas Maduro more than 24 hours earlier.

Maduro is in a New York detention center awaiting a Monday court appearance on drug charges, after US President Donald Trump ordered his removal and said the US would take control of Venezuela. But in Caracas, top officials in Maduro’s government, who have called the detentions of Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores a kidnapping, were still in charge.

Organized by the National Trade Union Federation Pakistan (NTUF) and the Home-Based Women Workers Federation, Pakistan (HBWWF), demonstrators in Karachi demanded the immediate release of Maduro. 

“We demand that a case of criminal war crimes be filed against Trump in the International Court of Justice,” Nasir Mansoor, NTUF general secretary, said at the protest. 

“He has killed thousands of Palestinians. He has attacked an independent country, with which there was no dispute, on a false accusation, and has abducted its president. This is a very dangerous trend and should be condemned.”

Zehra Khan, the HBWWF’s general secretary, demanded Washington stop its “imperialist expansion.”

“You can see that from Palestine to the whole world, it has unleashed a war, and this war should end,” she said. “And we reject any occupation of any country by another country, under any circumstances.”

The US move has caused deep uncertainty about what is next for the oil-rich South American nation and provoked strong condemnation from a number of leaders in Latin America as well as the United Nations which described it as a dangerous precedent and convened a meeting of the Security Council for Monday.