CAPE TOWN, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- A protest was held on Friday in Cape Town, South Africa's legislative capital, against U.S. military action in Venezuela, with demonstrators calling for the immediate release of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
The United States launched a military strike on Venezuela on Jan. 3, forcibly taking the South American country's president and his wife and placing them in custody in New York, an action that has drawn worldwide condemnation and concern.
Around midday on Friday, protesters gathered on Adderley Street in Cape Town's city center, holding placards reading "Wipe out U.S. imperialism" and "U.S. out of Venezuela."
They chanted slogans such as "Free Venezuela!" and "Free Maduro!" and called on passersby to support a planned Feb. 6 International Day of Action against U.S. Imperialism, in solidarity with the Palestinian and Venezuelan people.
As the organizer, the South African BDS Coalition, a network of Palestine solidarity groups, called for "a broad alliance to demand the immediate release of Maduro and Flores, and to stand firm against the onslaught of unmasked U.S. imperial aggression, which is dragging the world toward all-out war, widespread socio-economic collapse, and complete planetary demise."
Michael Titus, a 75-year-old retired pharmacist who joined the rally, told Xinhua that the U.S. action against Venezuela is "illegal," calling it "only a symptom of what America is doing in the rest of the world."
"They promote imperialism, and America is an imperialist bully of the world. It goes anywhere and has the impunity to do what it wants to," he said.
"We must keep up the pressure to prevent America from bullying the rest of the world. The people of the world are not free because of America. We will keep on demonstrating and protesting to get America out of people's backyards," Titus added.
Faariq Theba, a university student and a member of the organizing group, said the U.S. action against Venezuela was "outside the confines of international law."
"We don't know who is next, but I think it is good for us to know that anyone can be next, even South Africa," Theba said.
"I think Venezuela is just the beginning. I don't know when it will end, but I do hope that we will see more solidarity from countries, especially in the Global South," Theba added. ■