Caracas mayor in violent arrest

Ledezma's arrest on Thursday came exactly one year after protests broke out in opposition to Venezuela's current president, Nicolas Maduro. Dozens were killed in the anti-government demonstrations.

Following Ledezma's arrest, Maduro, who has accused the opposition leader of conspiring against the government in the past, said the mayor must answer "for all the crimes committed against the country's peace and security."

Ledezma's wife, Mitzy, wrote on Twitter that her husband had been beaten and arrested without a warrant.

"I will hold President Nicolas Maduro responsible for the life of my husband," she wrote on her husband's Twitter account.

Opposition lawmaker Ismael Garcia also described Ledezma's arrest.

"They took him out of his office like he was a dog," he wrote.

Last week, Ledezma's name appeared on a list government critics and Western powers that Maduro accused of plotting a coup to overthrow the Venezuelan government.

Ledezma, who has been mayor of the Venezuelan capital since 2008, responded to the accusation saying that the real destabilizing force in the country was the government's corruption.

After news of Ledezma's arrest spread across the Venezuelan capital on Thursday, hundreds of people gathered at the intelligence agency's headquarters in Caracas to protest at the arrest, with others spontaneously banging pots from their windows and drivers sounding their car horns in demonstration.

The violent arrest on Thursday is set to add to growing tensions in Venezuela as the oil-rich country grapples with a recession and drop in fuel prices.

ksb/sms (AP, dpa)