Venezuelans stage pro-Guaido rally in Madrid

Hundreds of Venezuelans rallied in central Madrid late Tuesday in support of their country's self-proclaimed leader Juan Guaido, as riots broke out in faraway Caracas.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his government have vowed to put down what they see as an attempted coup by the US-based opposition leader.

But as police fired tear gas at the crowds in Caracas, around 300 people gathered in the Puerta del Sol square in Madrid in support of the 35-year-old National Assembly leader, waving Venezuelan flags and brandishing banners with slogans such as "Maduro is destroying Venezuela".

"This isn't a state coup," a former mayor of Caracas and opposition politician, Antonio Ledezma, told the small crowd in the Spanish capital, which included Venezuelan opposition figures, as well as officials from Spain's conservative Popular Party and centre-right Ciudadanos.

A spokeswoman for the Spanish government had earlier said Madrid "strongly hope that there will be no bloodshed" in ...