Venezuelan opposition leader arrested after anti-government protest

Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has been arrested after her convoy was intercepted by security forces as it departed an anti-government protest in Caracas, according to aides.

Ms Machado emerged from months of hiding earlier on Thursday and reappeared in public as part of a last-ditch attempt to block President Nicolas Maduro from clinging to power.

Ms Machado’s press team said in a social media post that security forces fired on the motorcycle convoy as it was leaving eastern Caracas where Ms Machado moments earlier had spoken to a crowd of supporters.

There were no immediate details on her whereabouts and Mr Maduro’s government has yet to comment.

The protests were taking place a day before the ruling party-controlled National Assembly is scheduled to swear in Mr Maduro to a third six-year term, despite credible evidence that he lost the presidential election.