CARACAS, Venezuela— Supporters of a high-profile jailed Venezuelan opposition leader clashed with government loyalists Thursday outside a Caracas courthouse in anticipation of an impending verdict.
Members of Leopoldo Lopez’s party arrived early in the morning to protest and pray, as they have dozens of times since Lopez’s imprisonment 19 months ago. Lopez is charged with inciting violence in his role as the leader of a protest movement in 2014, and could face more than 10 years in prison.
Around midday, red-shirted government supporters showed up and began chanting that Lopez was a murderer and a terrorist. Some burned the orange flag of Lopez’s political party and threw bottles and sticks at Lopez’s wife as she passed a barricade to enter the court.
