MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Venezuela activists vowed to continue protests despite demolition of camps

Most of the 243 students have been released but 11 have been charged and will go to court

Venezuela said it had freed most of the 243 youth activists arrested in raids last week on street camps set up to protest against President Nicolas Maduro's government. Although the demolition of four camps in Caracas was hoped would discourage the three-month protest movement, activists vowed the measure had only strengthened their resolve to demonstrate.

 The students had been camping for weeks outside UN offices on a major highway, and in several other public squares.

The Venezuelan public prosecutor's office said in a statement that 11 detainees had been kept behind bars, accused of a range of crimes including possession of arms and drugs.

Authorities freed 155 with cautions and orders to report to courts periodically, and instructed 15 to undergo medical treatment for drug abuse, the statement added.

Anti-Maduro protests have been raging since February, with activists complaining about high inflation and crime rates, scarcities of basic goods, and repression of opponents.

Maduro says the demonstrations are part of a wider, US-backed “coup” attempt against him. But despite the protests Maduro's position in power does not appear under threat since they have not spread far from middle-class opposition enclaves, and military chiefs are behind him.

In what has been the worst unrest in a decade, at least 42 people have died in violence around the protests - with victims on all sides - and about 800 have been injured. About 160 people remain in jail in total from round-ups since February.