Rome protesters decry 'imperalist' US after Venezuela strike

A few hundred protesters gathered in front of the United States embassy in Rome on Saturday in pouring rain, holding Venezuelan flags and denouncing what they called international crimes by President Donald Trump.

"We must mobilise against this coup, which we can call terrorist, by the United States," said protester Federico Manetti of the "Cambiamo Rotta" (Change Course) youth Communist group.

Trump announced Saturday the capture of leftist leader Nicolas Maduro by US special forces during a bombing raid on Caracas, saying Washington would now "run" the oil-rich country.

The US had attacked Venezuela for months, said young protester Manetti, "because they want to reconquer and take back natural resources such as oil, but also to bring to its knees a people that has been resisting US imperialism for 30 years".

Another man in the crowd, Marco, who did not want to give his last name, called the protest a "must".

"It was organised in a very short time because the aggression against the Venezuelan people is very serious and reflects the imperialist attitude of the US and the West, which still have a colonial mindset," he said.

Among the Venezuelan flags furled by protesters were signs calling for Maduro to be freed.

Earlier Saturday, far-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni -- an ally of Trump -- defended the US military action, saying that "defensive intervention against hybrid attacks" by the US was "legitimate".