CARACAS — A Venezuelan opposition leader wanted by police in connection with deadly street protests told supporters via Twitter to keep demonstrating, but peacefully, and armed police visited his father's home, apparently seeking to arrest him.
Authorities accuse Leopoldo Lopez of murder and terrorism in connection with violence around four days of sporadic anti-government protests that have left three people dead and both sides blaming each other for the bloodshed.
The demonstrators have vowed to stay in the streets until Maduro resigns, although there is no sign of that happening.
The president has said he will not let them cause chaos by blocking roads, and troops have fired teargas and water cannons to clear about 1,000 protesters who lit trash bonfires and threw stones in an affluent part of eastern Caracas. Student protesters were due to gather again in the same area on Sunday.
"To the country and the students, who I've always admired and supported, the battle is in the streets, but without violence," Lopez said on Twitter late on Saturday.
Minutes later, a local newspaper reported on its website that armed police had visited the Caracas home of Lopez's father looking for the opposition leader.
Their behavior was "very civilized," Lopez senior told El Nacional, and when they found out he wasn't there, they left.
"Maduro, you're a coward," the opposition leader said later on Twitter. "You won't make either me or my family bow to you. To my family: strength. I love you."
— Reuters